THE DAWN OF REASON.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20976, 12 September 1931, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE DAWN OF REASON.

STUDY OF CHIMF^ANZEES

Sir J. Arthur Thomson, the biologist, in a recent address to the summer school of the British Social Hygiene Council, at Oxford, ou •" Biology and Human Life," expressed a hope that a dawn of reason may be discovered through further study of the chimpanzee and other anthropoids. Consideration of conditioned reflexes led Sir Arthur to refer to an experiment made by Pavlov, the Russian physiologist, Pavlov, he said, took a lot of white mice, lang a bell, and gave them a meal, and he stated that after 300 lessons it was sufficient to ring t ho bell in order to bring J dashing out of their dormitory to eat the meal that was not there. The second generation of mice, Pavlov said, required only 100 lessons, and the third generation 50, and so on. I was sceptical about this," said Sir Arthur, ' and began similar experiments in Aberdeen. The first result was very interesting. Whereas the Leningrad white mice required 300 lessons to associate the ringing of the bell with the food that was not' there, Ihe Aberdeen mice, as one might have expected, required only forty. Ihe second generation required 'exactly the same number of lessons. The Aberdeen experiment was quite contradictory ot that made by Pavlov, who said that lie must have been deceived by an assistant and publicly withdrew bis views.

Man has almost no instinct. I regret that Professor McDougal] has misled psychologists by his use of the word instinct in Reference to man. Why ta lk about the sex instinct ?Itis as blunt as blunt can be. 'lake the maternal instinct. What does the inexperienced mother know about- taking care of her child ? How would she keep it if it were "°t,f? r the experience of other mothers? I think that as the study of chimpanzees and other anthropoids goes on, the dawn of reason will be discovered.

When some chimpanzees were given mirrors they were greatly pleased, and spent days looking at themselves, each one holding the mirror in the left hand, but having the-right, hand always ready to punch the fellow looking at it through the glass. They never got rid of the idea that there was another fellow, but when the glass mirrors were taken away they found mirrors of their own which were merely pieces of polished tin. Then they found that puddles of water gave a reflection, and they would gaze into the water by the hour. I should think that just at that time there was the dawn of self consciousness: that reason was just beginning to dawn on the chimpanzee's mind." NEW DEVICE SAVES AIRMAN. Lost over the shark-infested Pacific Ocean of Panama—and out of petrol, Chief Aviation Pilot Verne W. Harshman, °f United States Navy, had strayed from his course, and he could not find the aircraft carrier Langley and the airplane fleet. His motor spluttered and died. The a land-flying type, splashed into the sea. But it did not sink, says Popular Science Monthly. Just as one wing went under Mr. Harshman pulled a lever. There was a hiss of gas, and a pair of balloonshaped bags beneath the lower wing swelled up. They buoyed up the aeroplane until next morning. Meanwhile Mr. Harshman leisurely stocked an emergency rubber boat with oars, a canteen of water, a red signal flag, and a Verey pistol to fire distress signals at night. Then he cast off. Four days later a passing liner picked him up. After months of tests these life preservers, officially known as " flotation gear." have emerged from the experimental stage. Practically every land machine or carrier aircraft in the United States Navy now employs them as a safeguard against an emergency landing. They are inflated by carbon dioxide gas compressed in tanks. PLANTS WITH FEVER. Plants, like animals and human beings, develop a fever when afflicted with certain ailments, and the tiny bacterium' that causes r rot of the roots has been found responsible for much trouble. According to Popular Mechanics, experts in Texas recently reported that the temperature of leaves on some afflicted plants was about three degrees higher than normal. Tests have shown that the germ which causes root rot does not thrive in acid soils, hence efforts are being made to raise crops that will grow successfully in ground of relatively high acidity. In the case of cotton, a way has been found to defeat the pest by speeding the plants to produce their bolls before the root-rot germ can do its damage.