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Show 320 MENTAL FACULTIES OF THE BALD CHIMPANZEE. [June 4, Houzeau tells us that mules used in tramways at New Orleans have to make five journeys from one end of the route to the other before they are released, and that they make four of these journeys without showing any expectation of being released, but begin to bray towards the end of the fifth \ Lastly, the keeper of the Sea-Lions now in the menagerie has recently taught one of these animals to " count " as far as five. His method is to throw pieces of fish in regular succession, which the animal catches one by one. He throws them in series of fives, and, before the commencement of any series, he tells the seal to miss the first, the second, the third, the fourth, or the fifth, as the on-lookers may dictate: the Sea-Lion thereupon makes no attempt to catch the member of the series thus verbally indicated. It is only a day or two ago, however, that I witnessed this performance, and as yet I am not satisfied that the Sea-Lion really " counts," because it appears to me probable that the keeper may unintentionally make some slight difference in his manner of throwing the piece of fish which he expects the Sea-Lion to miss, and that it is really this slight difference in the manner of throwing which the seal perceives and acts upon. Therefore, I intend to get an arrangement fitted up whereby the pieces of fish shall be thrown mechanically. But, whatever the result of this experiment may be, I think there can now no longer be any question that it lies within the capacity of animal intelligence to " count " correctly (in the sense already explained) as far as five, and even to show a well-marked appreciation- although progressively a more and more uncertain one-of numbers lying between five and ten. The only other direction in which I have thus far subjected the Chimpanzee to psychological experiment has been in that of attempting to teach her the names of colours. It appeared to me that if I could once succeed in getting her thoroughly well to know the names of black, white, red, green, or blue, a possible basis might have been laid for many further experiments wherein these five colours could have been used as signs of artificially associated ideas. The result, however, of attempting to teach her the names of colours bas been so uniformly negative, that I am disposed to think the animal must be colour-blind. It is perhaps desirable to state the facts which have led me to entertain this their most probable interpretation. The method adopted in these experiments was to obtain from the importers of oriental matting a number of brightly and uniformly coloured pieces of straw-each piece being either white, black, red, green, or blue. Offered the straws two by two of different colours on each occasion, the ape was invited to select the straw of the colour named from the one whose colour was not named, and, of course, on choosing correctly was rewarded with a piece of fruit. In this way she quickly learnt to distinguish between the white straws and the straws of any other colour; but she never could be taught to go further. Now the distinction between the white straws and the straws of any other colour is a distinction which can be drawn by an eye that is colour-blind; and from the fact that 1 Fac. Ment. des Anim. torn. ii. p. 207. |
