HIGH POWER IN MONKEY'S BRAIN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3449, 14 February 1912, Page 7

HIGH POWER IN MONKEY'S BRAIN.

PSYCHOLOGIST DECLARES EXPERIMENTS SHOW CHIMPANZEES CAN REASON.

HAVE HUMAN ATTRIBUTES

Dr William H. Furness, pne well known psychologist of Wallingford, U.S., after several years of painstaking work, has succeeded in >educating two chimpanzees to 'such a marked degree of intelligence that he believes the animals have conclusively proved that/they have reasoning powers. The experiments have attracted world-wide scientific attention.

The two female chimpanzees which have shown the phenomenal aptitude •have been on the estate of Dr H. H. Furness, the father of the psychologist, at Wallingford, several years, and have been daily under the personal care or the instruction of assistants. The animals have attained a degree of mentality comparable, it is alleged, if not surpassing a large percentage of delinquent children. The animals were taken from their native environment when exceedingly young.

The experiments proved, Doctor Furness believes, that the monkey and chimpanzee have brains capable of discriminating between objects, and that the lower animals, when properly trained; really think. The investigations conducted by Doctor Furness are in no sense analogous to those frequently seen in theatres, where the animal on exhibition merely mimics the trainer and displays no traces of thought other than following the initial actions. The scientific point of view, however, regards mimicry as indicative of a higher grade of mentality than in such animals as a dog or cat. TIMED MANY EXPERIMENTS. The chimpanzees are kept in light, airy cages, are well fed and enjoy extended privileges of the home. Since their early days they have been constantly in companionship with human beings, and thus removed from copying the attributes of their kind. They have been constantly talked to and petted. Each day they have been subjected to a rigid course of “study,” under the direct sunervision of Doctor I urness or his assistant, until they have become exceedingly well acquainted, understanding each other’: whims and caprices and enjoying each other’s company. When the two females had attained to what was considered a state of perfection in mimicry, a gradual deviation was made to other lines in ordei to determine the reasoning powers.

Boards were placed in the cages having large square openings and large holes, the animals also being given a ball and a square piece of wood, both of which exactly fitted their respective openings in the board. lhe caieful scrutiny of the instructors »aw that the animals examined the block and balltaking them into their hands and pounding them against the board in high glee. After a few days one of the chimpanzees looked intently at the square opening in the board and endeavored to force the ball through it. The opening was too small to allow its passage, and the creature then picked up the squaie block and pushed it through. Later both animals, without the slightest assitance on the part of Doctoi Fuiness, saw that only the ball would fit into the circle and only the block would pass through the square. Various triangles, stars, squaies and shapes used by children in kindergaitens have periodically been given to them, until today they will instantly fit any shape to any similar form and never try to place a pyramid in a circular hole or vice versa. HAS REASONING POWER.

These experiments, it is contended, simply proved that the animals have reasoning power. 'N arious ot-hei plans were devised to stimulate and intensify the cower of thought- until within the past year their education has xeached such a degree that- they recognise a large number ' of words, associating them with the corresponding objects. The experiments along this line lectured infinite patience on the part of the trainers, but the results have been more than gratifying, and have done much to establish, the experimenters think, 1 the primal connecting link between man and the lower animals. Hundreds of other experiments have been carried on with the view of “exercising” tire brain of tbo monkey. They have learned the colors, which is considered a remarkable step in mental advancement; they have mastered a large number of words, going to vari-

ous parts of the cage or room merely on the bidding of the master, and the inflection of the voice will hasten or take their time. $ The majority of the deeper psychological experiments are kept a strict secret, but it is understood that the publication of the work will show a number of features of the brain activity 0 f the animals which will practically revolutionise the prevalent aideas of the education of the lower’ animals. The experiments made with the chimpanzees is looked upon merely as astep-'ping-stone to further development. Recently Hr Furness returned from Africa, bringing with him two male chimpanzees. The offspring will likewise be subjected to years of careful education, which, together with the inherited traits of the mothers, is believed by scientists, will produce an animal with a marked degree of mentality. It is to theso future generations that the work is being focussed.