SUB-HUMAN CULTURE BEGINNINGS 



335 



was placed behind a barrier, in a low open 

 box with only the farther side broken out. 

 To get his banana the ape had therefore 

 either to lift it with his stick out over the 

 front or side edge of the box, which was 

 difficult; or he had to reverse his first im- 

 pulse of scraping the fruit toward him- 

 self, and instead push it farther away 

 until it was clear of the box; after which 

 of course the familiar raking-in process 

 could successfully commence. Without 

 exception the apes found this problem 

 difficult. Some never solved it except 

 when the box was partly turned to help 

 them; others only by the aid of accident, 

 such as the banana rolling favorably; and 

 even those who had learned the necessary 

 reversal, tended to relapse into their 

 earlier, direct, impossible efforts. Still, 

 some of them did learn, and with prac- 

 tise came to perform quickly and effi- 

 ciently. These results are a genuine 

 credit to the more gifted individuals of 

 the chimpanzee species. More observa- 

 tions as simple and significant as this are 

 a desideratum. 



This experiment developed a type of 

 success which probably has its parallel in 

 culture: invention partly by accident. 

 The banana, prodded by the stick, rolls 

 or bounces near an open corner of the 

 box, or entirely clear of it, and the animal 

 immediately sees a solution that had been 

 beyond its grasp while the problem re- 

 mained unmitigated. After this partial 

 aid by chance, the whole problem is soon 

 mastered. 



Whether invention wholly by accident 

 occurs in human culture, may be doubted. 

 But that accident sometimes assists, is 

 likely. At any rate, there are devices 

 like the bow and arrow, and the fire- 

 drilling apparatus, which seem to be by- 

 products of other devices subsequently 

 improved or converted when a chance 

 variation suggested a new utilization. A 



bow which fails to attain a certain effi- 

 ciency is of no use as a weapon. Yet an 

 efficient bow is a fairly complex imple- 

 ment of delicate adjustment with which a 

 first inventor would be almost foredoomed 

 to fail. Its origin is best conceivable as 

 a secondary stage of a bow used as a toy 

 or musical instrument, which, being later 

 produced with the requisite strength and 

 balance, would be serviceable for propul- 

 sion. We do know from archaeology that 

 the bow came into culture relatively late — 

 not until the terminal phase of the Palaeo- 

 lithic. The fire-drill is a simple appara- 

 tus but needs to be adjusted and operated 

 in a particular way before a spark is ob- 

 tainable. Drills used for boring, how- 

 ever, would sooner or later be likely to 

 produce smoke or even a spark, and a new 

 application be suggested. It would be 

 rash to contend that any invention was 

 ever due wholly to lucky chance. If 

 there were no insight into problem nor 

 recognition of need, the accident would 

 pass unobserved and unutilized. But it 

 does seem that previous accomplishment, 

 plus insight, plus accident, have at times 

 led to the creation of new cultural ma- 

 terial. And the same three factors occur 

 in chimpanzee invention. 



The chimpanzee depends much more 

 than we on muscular strength and gym- 

 nastic skill. Even the most intelligent 

 anthropoids manifest little sense of statics. 

 They pile three or four boxes randomly 

 and then balance their own bodies to 

 counteract the imbalance of the me- 

 chanical pile. Boxes are set on an edge 

 or corner and the animal tries to mount 

 them — in some cases succeeds because of 

 its natural acrobatic capacity. The one 

 gorilla tested proceeded more like a 

 human being in adjusting and trying out 

 the boxes; but this was a proportionally 

 heavy animal, and without jumping 

 impulses. Of course a solution which 



