The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1903-01-30
New York z xpert' S Expert
inents at the Bronx Zoo. 4
"a NEW FIELD FOR RESEARCH 4.

81 think have not only hypnotized
birds, z he said recently to a reporter OF
/ the New York Herald, ''but have In
duced a trne mesmeric condition, dur
ing which they have done certain
things willed them to do. Some may
explain my experiments as a series OF
remarkable condolences between the
actions OF the birds and my wishes.
Whether this is SO or not can only be
proved BY many hundreds Of expert
ments'' 5s.F .5,3 Al
Birds have never been credited with
enough intelligence to reach q mesmer-
ized state, hence Mr.. Beebe's paper,
read at the meeting Of the New York.
Geological society, has caused much
discussion among. naturalists. Birds
are his life study, and his closeness of
observation during his three years
service at the Bronx ZOO has resulted
in bringing to light several new md in
teresting facts about the feathered
race. q /. e SS4S s1
The more studied birds the more |
became convinced that their, intelli-.
gence had been greatly underestima-
ted, Z said Mr.. Beebe. Il had been ratf-
er sliec f,sil III ottiiaiiIls Hay
students at Columbia. and the, idea oe.-.
CURED TO me to see what could be SdoLe
with birds Commencing with the IA.
miliar experiment of laying a bird ON.
Its back and drawing a chalk line from
its bill. 1 soon found that it was not re-
qnired to draw any line at all. Then
+ reached the point where by merely
stroking the bird 4 could throw It into
the same sleepy state. A little later I
could get the same result without lay
ing the bird down at all BY merely
stroking It's feathers. These expert
nents may be repeated by any one, as
4 only requires patience. Care must be
taken to make no sudden movement Of
the hands, or the bird will take fright.
ana further efforts Will be useless.
MY next step was long way ahead.
and cannot promise the same success
10 others "a broug tsa bird Into my,
sfIice and tried to nut Il to sleep BY
simply looking at 1t. I found that diff
ferent birds Of the same species re-
sponded very differently to sAis treat
nent. which is another proof Of my
slaim that birds possess a strong per-
sonal individual lity. With some birds
/ was quite successful. and after q
time by simply concentrating my will
upon the subject 4 could induce "a mes
meric state without looking at the bird
Mt all. 9 ss,, d 3
One day II was very anxious to OBJ
tain photograph OF a parrot In the
act OF eating. and the idea occurred to
tfy mesnerism. Taking the parrot to
. quiet part of the park where the
Hight was good. l got him under my
control and then willed him to 90
through the motions sof eating after
had focused my camera. You can Inn
agine my delight when the parrot slow
u lifted its claw to its beak and COM
nnenced to nibble. This waserepeated
three times, and I do not think it was
Soincidenee, The photograph 81 one Of
my proudest possessions. 81,
II took al barn owl one 0fsthe Wild
est birds we have, and after mesmer-
izing him I Found he would move along
the perch to the right er left just as II
willed. / have noticed one striking diff
ference between a bird that is hypno-
tlxed In the ordinary way and one that
has been mesmerized by sheer force OF
viii power. In the first case the bird
when aroused will dart away In fright,
but u the latter. no matter how Wild