If 90 SALLY 243 



perfectly well understood what was required of her, 

 and up to the time when I left town, several months 

 ago, she rarely made a mistake in handing me the 

 exact number of straws that I named. Doubtless 

 she stm continues to do so for her keeper. For 

 instance, if she is asked for four straws she succes- 

 sively picks up three and puts them in her mouth, 

 then she picks up a fourth and hands over all the 

 four together. Thus, there can be no doubt that the 

 animal is clearly able to distinguish between the 

 numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and that she understands 

 the name for each. But as this chimpanzee is some- 

 what capricious in her moods, even private visitors 

 must not be disappointed if they fail to be entertained 

 by an exhibition of her learning, a caution which it 

 seems desirable to add, as this is the first time that 

 the attainments of my pupil have been made known 

 to the pubUc, although they have been witnessed by 

 officers of the Society and other biological friends. 



I have sent these facts to you. Sir, because I think 

 that they bear out the psychological distinction which 

 is drawn iu your leading article of the 17th inst. 

 Briefly put, this distinction amounts to that between 

 sensuous estimation and intellectual notation. Any 

 child, a year after emerging from infancy, and not yet 

 kno^^ing its numerals, could immediately see the 

 difEerence between five pigs and six pigs, and there- 

 fore, as your writer indicates, it would be an extra- 

 ordinary fact if a savage were unable to do so. The. 

 case, of course, is different where any process of 

 calculation is concerned : e.g. ' each sheep must be 

 paid for separately; thus, suppose two sticks of 



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