1889.] FACULTIES OF THE BALD CHIMPANZEE, 319 
losing patience than to her losing count; although after seven I 
believe that her computation of the numbers themselves becomes 
vague, or merged in a merely general idea of many. It may also be 
stated that while picking up the straws and placing them in her 
mouth she looks only at the straws themselves, and not at the 
person who asks for them: therefore she is certainly not actuated 
in her responses by interpreting facial expression, unconscious ges- 
ture, &c., as is no doubt the case with many dogs which, on this 
account, are sometimes accredited by their owners with powers of 
“thought reading.’ It is needless to add that, after asking for 
the number of straws required, we remain silent till the ape has 
handed them out. 
It is not necessary—indeed it would be unreasonable—to suppose 
that in this process of “counting” the ape employs any system of 
notation. We know from our own experience that there is counting 
and counting—i. e., distinguishing between low numbers by directly 
appreciating the difference between two quantities of sensuous per- 
ception, and distinguishing between numbers of any amount by 
marking each perception with a separate sign. The extent to which 
the former kind of computation can be carried in the case of man 
has been made the subject of a careful research by Prof. Preyer of 
Jena (Sitzungsb. d. Gesell. f. Med. u. Naturwiss. 1881). His experi- 
ments consisted in ascertaining the number of objects (such as dots 
on a piece of paper) which admit of being simultaneously estimated 
with accuracy, and it was found that the number admits of being 
largely increased by practice, until, in the case of some persons, it 
may rise to more than twenty. But, of course, in the case of a 
brute it is not to be expected that such a high degree of proficiency 
even in this non-notative kind of “counting” should be attainable. 
The utmost that could here be expected is that a brute should 
exhibit some such level of ability as is presented by a young child, 
or by those savages whose powers of accurate computation do not 
appear to extend further than numbers which we write as units}, 
It was in view of such considerations that I did not attempt to carry 
the education of this ape beyond the number five; and the result 
which has attended subsequent endeavours to teach her numbers as 
high as ten is, as previously remarked, exactly what one might have 
anticipated. It may here be added that in the only records with 
which I am acquainted of animals exhibiting any powers of numerical 
computation, these powers have not extended beyond the number 
five. Thus, for instance, in his well-known account of these powers 
as presented by rooks, Leroy says :—‘To deceive this suspicious 
bird the plan was hit upon of sending two men into the watch-house, 
one of whom passed out while the other remained [to shoot the bird 
on returning to her nest]; but the rook counted and kept her dis- 
tance. Next day three went, and again she perceived that only two 
returned. In fine, it was found necessary to send five or six men to 
the watch-house in order to throw out her calculations ” 2, Again, 
' See, for example, Galton, ‘ Tropical South Africa,’ p. 213. 
2 © Letters,” &e. 
