Experimental Study of Associative Processes 25 
than some of the animal psychologists. In short, the 
anecdotes give really the abnormal or supernormal psy- 
chology of animals. 
Further, it must be confessed that these vices have been 
only ameliorated, not obliterated, when the observation is 
first-hand, is made by the psychologist himself. For as men 
of the utmost scientific skill have failed to prove good 
observers in the field of spiritualistic phenomena,! so biolo- 
gists and psychologists before the pet terrier or hunted 
fox often become like Samson shorn. They, too, have 
looked for the intelligent and unusual and neglected the 
stupid and normal. 
Finally, in all cases, whether of direct observation or 
report by, ood observers or bad, there have been three other 
defects. “Only a single case is studied, and so the results _ 
are not necessarily true of the type; the‘observation is not 
ted, nor are the conditions perfectly regulated ;- the 
= eee history of ‘the’ animal i in question is not known. 
Such observations may tell us, if the observer is perfectly 
reliable, that a certain thing takes place; but they cannot 
assure us that.it.will take. place universally among the ani- 
mals of that species, or universally with the same animal. 
Nor can the influence of previous experience be estimated. 
All this refers to means of getting knowledge about what 
animals do. The next question is, ‘‘What do they feel?” 
Previous work has not furnished an answer or the material 
for an answer to this more important question. Nothing 
but carefully designed, crucial experiments can. In aban- 
1JI do not mean that scientists have been too credulous with regard to 
spiritualism, but am referring to the cases where ten or twenty scientists 
have been sent to observe some trick-performance by a spiritualistic ‘me- 
dium,’ and have all been absolutely confident that they understood the secret 
of its performance, each of them giving a totally different explanation. 
