In 1915, a long desired opportunity came to me to devote myself
undividedly to tasks which I have designated above as "prospecting" for
an anthropoid station and experimenting with monkeys and apes. First of
all, the interruption of my academic duties by sabbatical leave gave me
free time. But in addition to this freedom for research, I needed
animals and equipment. These, too, happily, were most satisfactorily
provided, as I shall now describe.
When in 1913, while already myself engaged in seeking the establishment
of an anthropoid station, I heard of the founding of such an institution
at Orotava, Tenerife, the Canary Islands, I immediately made inquiries
of the founder of the station, Doctor Max Rothmann of Berlin, concerning
his plans (Rothmann, 1912).[1] As a result of our correspondence, I was
invited to visit and make use of the facilities of the Orotava station
and to consider with its founder the possibility of coöperative work
instead of the establishing of an American station. This invitation I
gratefully accepted with the expectation of spending the greater part of
the year 1915 on the island of Tenerife. But the outbreak of the war
rendered my plan impracticable, while at the same time destroying all
reasonable ground for hope of profitable coöperation with the Germans in
the study of the anthropoids. In August, 1915, Doctor Rothmann died.
Presumably, the station still exists at Orotava in the interests of
certain psychological and physiological research. So far as I know,
there are as yet no published reports of studies made at this station.
It seems from every point of view desirable that American psychologists
should, without regard to this initial attempt of the Germans to provide
for anthropoid research, further the establishment of a well equipped
American station for the study not only of the anthropoid apes but of
all of the lower primates.
[Footnote 1: See bibliography at end of report.]
In the early months of the war while I was making every effort to obtain
reliable information concerning conditions in the Canary Islands, I
received an urgent invitation from my friend and former student, Doctor
G. V. Hamilton, to make use of his collection of animals and laboratory
at Montecito, California, during my leave of absence from Harvard. This
invitation I most gladly accepted, and in February, 1915, I established
myself in Santa Barbara, in convenient proximity to Doctor Hamilton's
private laboratory where for more than six months I was able to work
uninterruptedly under nearly ideal conditions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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