THE SUMMIT OF THE YEARS 



about the amount of light that can be thrown upon 

 the springs of animal life, at least upon the life of 

 the higher vertebrates, by this inquisitorial proceed- 

 ing. In the laboratory, or in any sort of confinement, 

 the animal is placed in unnatural conditions, and 

 the problems that confront it in captivity do not 

 arise in the natural course of its life. Its instincts 

 are demoralized because its body is restrained. 

 Man is a disturbing influence. Animals under his 

 care even change their colors. In laboratories their 

 native wit is usually at low ebb, and they do not 

 know what they do know. Their instincts are balked 

 because of the strangeness of the environment. They 

 are not themselves, and do not and cannot act out 

 their true natures. What, for instance, could your 

 new psychologist learn of the real life and character 

 of my downy woodpecker by his laboratory experi- 

 ments? Could he persuade him to excavate his winter 

 lodge? Could he induce him to select a drum from 

 a lot of dry limbs put in his cage, and, when the 

 spring days come, begin his resonant hammering 

 to attract a mate? Can the real instincts and the 

 varied natural accomplishments of any of the wild 

 creatures be brought out by this jailing process? I 

 doubt it. Some of us men would cut a pretty poor 

 figure under such a test. 



I confess that this short cUt to animal psychology 

 through the laboratory interests me very little. 

 Laboratory experiments can lead to little more than 

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