550 



STUDIES ON THE MENTAL LIFE OF ANIMALS. 



Initton or the .string- that opened 



iMii. S.— Thorndike, p. 25, lis. '.'- 



20, 30, 22, 11, 15, 20, 12, 11, 10, 8, 



the door; a connection thus tended 

 to be e.sta])lished between the 

 act of opening the door and that 

 of going- out; gradually all the 

 movements that did not result in 

 the delivery of the subject, not 

 being finally accompanied by the 

 feeling of pleasure resulting 

 from that deliverance, would be 

 stamped out. The impulse*^ that 

 terminates in setting the subject 

 at liberty would be stamped in 

 ])v the resulting pleasure; this 

 particular quality would cause it 

 to predominate in the conscious- 

 ness of the animal in r. more or 

 loss exclusive manner; aftermany 

 successful trials the cat would, 

 when put into the box, immedi- 

 ately claw the button or the bolt 

 that closed its prison. A pro- 

 gressive modification of its entire 

 attitude was produced. A cat, 

 placed successivel}' in two boxes, 

 manifested in the second one less 

 desire to attempt escape through 

 the )iars; it almost ceased to mew; 

 if it got out of the first box by 

 scratching, it showed a marked 

 tendency to scratch when placed 

 in the second; there was shown 

 then, to a certain degree, an adap- 

 tation of movements to efi'ect a 

 desired end. 



Here are some figures: Cat 

 No. 12, from 1 to 6 months old, 

 placed in a box closed by a bolt, 

 first took 1()0 seconds to got out; 

 final!}' it did this in a minimum 

 of 5 seconds. The intermediate 

 figures show an almost regular 

 decrease: 100, 130, 5)0, 60, 15, 28, 



8, 5, 10, 8, 6, 6, 7 seconds. An inter- 



"The word "impulse," a? uf=ed by Mr. Thorndike, means the consciousness 

 accompanying a muscular innervation; it is the direct feeling of the doing as dis- 



