Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-09-25

strews or three straws. These she was 70
pick up and hand out from among the litter
| in her cage. No constant order was to be
observed in making these requests, but.
whenever she handed number not asked
for her offer was refused, while, if she gave
the proper number her offer was accepted.
and she received a piece of fruit as paw
ment. In this way the ape was eventually
taught to associate these three numbers
with their names. Lastly, if two straws or
three straws were demanded, she was
taught to hold one straw or two straws in
her mouth until she had picked up the re-
naming straw, and then to hand thestwo
Btraws or three straws together. This pre-
vented any possible error arising from her
Interpretation Of vocal tones-an error
which might well have arisen If each straw
had been asked for separately
'As soon as the animal understood what
was required and had learned to associate
these three numbers with their names. she
never failed to give the number of straws
asked for. Her education was then ex-
tended in a similar manner from three to
four and from four to five. Here, for rea-
sons to be presently stated, allowed her
education to terminate. But more re-
Gently one of the keepers has endeavored to
advance her instruction as far as ten. The
result, however, Is what might have been
anticipated. Although she very rarely
makes any mistake in handin out one, two,
three, four or five straws, according to the
number asked for, and although she Is
usually accurate in handing out as many as
six or seven, when the numbers eight, nine
or ten are named, the result becomes more
and more uncert ain, so as to be suggestive
OF guesswork. 1t Is evident, however, that
she understands the words seven, eight,
nine and ten to betoken numbers higher
than those below them; for il she is asked
Tor any OF these numbers Il. G., above sikh
she always gives some number that Is above
six and not more than ten; but there is no
such constant accuracy displayed in hand
ing out the exact number named as is the
case below six. On the whole, then, while
there is no doubt that this animal can &C
curately compute any number of straws up
to five, beyond five the accuracy of her
computation becomes progressively dlmin-
ished.
"It is not ecessary-indeed 1t would be
unreasonable-to suppose that in this
process Of counting the ape employs
any system of notation. We know
from our own experience that there
Is counting and counting, {. G., dis
tinguishing between low numbers by di-
rectly approaching the difference between
two quantities of sensuous perception and
distinguishing between numbers of any
amount by marking each perception with a
separate sign. The extent to which the
former kind Of computation can be carried
in the case of man has been made the sub
ject OF careful research by Prof. Preyer,
of jena HIS experiments consisted in as
pertaining the number of objects (such as
dots on piece of paper) which admit of
being simultaneously estimated with &C
curacy, and it was found that the number
admits Of being largely increased by prac-
tice until, in the case of some persons, it
may rise to more than twenty. But of
course in the case of brute it is not to be
expected that such high degree of pro-
ficiency even in this non-notative kind of
counting should be attainable. The ut
most that could here be expected is that
brute should exhibit some such level of
ability as is presented by young child, or
by those savages whose powers of accurate
computation do not appear to extend further
than numbers which we write as units 1t
was In view of such considerations that I
did not attempt to carry the education of
this ape beyond the number five, and the
result which has attained subsequent en-
deavors to teach her numbers as high as
ten is, as previously remarked, exactly
what NIGH; have been anticipated. 1t may
here be added that In the only records with
which am acquainted of animals exhibit
ing any powers of numerical computation
these powers have not extended beyond the
number FIVE"