Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-09-13
A COUNTING CHFMPANzEE.
Remarkable Exploits of an Ape-Results
of Experiments.

fore the Geological society of London by Pro
feSsor George j. Ronnanes, F, f. S., and from
it the following extracts are made:
"a year or two ago ii occurred to me that
might try some psychological experiments
on the intelligence Of this animal. The cir
cunstances in which she is placed, however,
did not prove favorable for anything like
systematic instruction Being constantly e1z-
posed to the gaze OF number Of people COM
ing and going and having had attention easily
distracted by them, the ape was practically
available for purposes Of tUition only during
the early hours of the morning before the
rnenagesie is open to the public, and, as q
rule, did not find It convenient at that time.
Therefore. the results which I am about &c
describe do not in my opinion, represent
what might fairly have been expected under
more favorable conditions; II the chimpanzee
could have been kept as a domestic pet for d
few months t2s 1 kept the cebus kindly lent
me for the purposes of psychological OBSERVE
ton by this society, there can De no doubt
that many much more interesting results
might have been Obtained Nevertheless, II
appears to me that even those which have
thus far been obtained are worthy Of being
placed on record.
Having enlisted the intelligent co-opera-
ton Of the keepers, l requested them to ask
the ape repeatedly for one straw, two straws,
or three straws These she was to 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 a number not asked for her offer wax
refused. while il she gave the proper mum
Der, her offer was accepted, and She received
piece Of fruit as payment. In this way the
npe was eventually taught - associate these
three numbers with their names. Lastly, If
two srraws or three straws were demanded,
ghe was taught TO hold one straw OF two
gtraws IN her mouth until she had picked up
the remaining straw, and then 10 hand the
two stravs or the three straws together Thii
prevented any possible error arising from bel
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 extended
in a similar manner from three to four and
from four to five. Here, for reasons to ba
terminate. But. more recently. one Of the
keepers has endeavored to advance her in
struction as far as ten. The result, however,
is what might bave been anticipated. Al
though she very rarely makes any mistake IL
handing 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, niTe or ten are named, the re-
suit becomes moro and more uncertain, so as
10 be suggestive Of gUesswork. It is evident
however, that she understands the words
seven, eight, nine and ten to Detolten mum
bers higher than those below Them for il She
is asked for any Of these numbers d. e.,
above six she always gives some number
that Is above six and not more than ten; but
there is no such constant accuracy displayed
in handing out the exact number named rs is
the case below six. On the whole, then,
while there IS no doubt that this animal can
accurately compute any number Of straws ur
to five, beyond five the accuracy of her com
puUatlOn becomes progressively diminished.
at is not necessary it would be
unreasonable-to suppose that IL this process
Of counting the ape employs any system Of
notation. We know from our own experience
that there IS counting and counting j. e. dis
tinguishing between low numbers by directly
approaching the difference between two
quantities of sensuouS perception and dis.
Jinguishing between 3rs1nbers Of any amount
by marking each perception with a separate
sign. The extent to which the former kind Of
computation can be carried in tie case of man
has been made the subject OF a careful re
search bv Professor Torevar- Of lena His ey.
per1mcnts consisted in aScertaining the mum
Der of objects such rs dots on piece Of
paper which admit Of being simultaneously
estimated with accuracy, and it was found
that the number admits Of being largely in
creased by practice until, in the case Of SONS
persons, il NAV rise to more than twenty.
But. Of course, in the case of brute it is not
to be expected that such a high degree OF
proficiency, even in this nomenclature kind Of
counting, should be atJainaDle. The utmost
that could here he expected is that a brute
should exhibit some such level of ability as is
presented by young child or by those saw
ages whose powers Of accurate computation
do not appear to extend further than mum
bers which we write as units 1t was in view
of such considerations that / did not attempt
10 carry the education of this ape beyond the
number five, and the result which has at
tainei subsequent endeavors to teach her
numbers as high as ten is, as previously re-
marked, exactly what might have been an
tiCipatad. It may here be added that in the
only records with which l am acquainted G.
animals exhibiting any powers of numerical
computation these powers have not extended
beyond the number f1ve.'