324 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—D. 
Dr. S. ZUCKERMAN. 
Mr. Rex KNIGHT. 
Two questions are frequently confused: (i) What mental experiences 
do animals possess? (ii) What are the causes of animal actions? ‘These 
questions are distinct, for it is possible that animals do have mental ex- 
periences and yet that these experiences do not affect their actions. A 
similar theory is widely held even with regard to human beings. 
In considering the first question, it seems plausible, by analogy from our- 
selves, to ascribe mental processes to some animals ; but the precariousness 
of the inference is shown by two facts. First, many animal actions, which, 
considered in isolation, seem to indicate rational foresight, turn out, on 
examination of their context, to be instances of instinct or acquired habit ; 
secondly, decerebrate and spinal preparations can perform many actions 
which, when performed by normal animals, are frequently taken as evidence 
of mental activity. 
The second question—What are the causes of animal actions ?>—can be 
more definitely answered. By controlled observation we can examine 
separately the antecedents of any particular action, and so discover which 
of them are severally necessary and jointly sufficient to produce the action. 
Scientific inquiries of this kind afford no justification for the view that 
. some animal actions cannot be the effects of non-mental causes. 
Prof. W. McDouaa tt, F.R.S. 
Dr. H. O. BULL. 
Dr. F. DarLinc. 
Observational work is being carried out upon a herd of Scottish Red 
Deer, which species is a particularly suitable subject for such work because 
it is a large animal living above ground, it is extremely sensitive to changes 
in environment, it has a well-developed community life, and a year forms 
a definite unit of time in its social life. 
Work upon such a species is likely to be fruitful in interpreting certain 
lines of animal behaviour, (a) because animals in the wild state seem to 
react differently on different occasions to similar sets of circumstances, 
which must mean that there are variables present of which we are, as yet, 
unaware; (b) because laboratory experiments on animal behaviour as 
pointers towards interpretation should only be conducted after a consider- 
able knowledge has been gained of the animal’s behaviour in freedom ; and 
(c) because, as most animals are in some measure gregarious, their behaviour 
as individuals and as members of a group cannot be divorced, and there is 
much to be learnt about community life of which the individual life is only 
a part. Among the many aspects of the deer’s life observed are the three 
territorial seasons and their sharply differentiated characteristics, meteoro- 
logical factors, biological factors, relation of the sexes to one another and 
the different behaviour of the sexes in the social structure of the community 
during the different seasons of the year. 
AFTERNOON. 
Discussion on The currents of the sea and their biological importance 
(2.15) :— 
Dryj. B., Tarr 
The sea itself constitutes the environment of marine life, and the study 
of this relationship is one of the chief purposes underlying the collection of 
