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 

 iu 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 beino- 

 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 attem{)t 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. Ic 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 " -. Again, 



' See, for example, Galton, ' Tropical South Africa,' p. 213. 



^ '• Letters," &c. 



