On the morning of April 14, having placed a banana in the usual
position, I took Julius into the large cage, dragged the two boxes to
the proper position beneath the banana, placed the smaller one upon the
larger one and then climbed up on them to show the ape that I could
reach the banana. I then stepped down and gave him a chance to climb on
the boxes. He did so immediately and obtained the food.
Another piece of banana was supplied, the boxes were placed in distant
corners of the cage, and fifteen minutes were allowed Julius so to place
them that he could obtain his reward. He gave no indications of having
profited by my demonstration, but worked with the boxes singly, usually
with the larger one. On April 16, with the banana in position and the
two boxes also in the cage, Julius was admitted and allowed to work for
five minutes, but again without success. I then placed the boxes
properly for him and he immediately climbed up and got the banana. While
he was eating, the boxes were carried to distant corners of the cage and
another banana placed in position. Now thirty minutes were allowed him
for unaided work on the problem. As formerly, the larger box was used
repeatedly and attempts to reach from the side of the cage appeared, but
there was no tendency to try to use the two boxes together. He worked
fairly persistently, however, and showed clearly the stimulating and
encouraging effect of aid from the experimenter. Once more, on April 17,
Julius was taken into the cage and allowed to watch me place the boxes
in proper position. He then climbed up and obtained the desired food.
After the bait had been renewed and the boxes displaced, he immediately
tried to use the larger one, then he reached for the small one as though
to use both together. But the impulse died out and he turned again to
the larger box as usual, standing it on end, and persistently trying to
balance himself on it. Nothing else of special interest happened during
the interval of unaided effort.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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