for lack of any better idea at the
moment, I determined to teach her the use of the yard measure (the
metre), and without having any definite object in view. So I fetched
the yard-stick and told her the names and the meaning of the divisions
three times; but she seemed unable to work up any enthusiasm for the
subject, and I therefore did not attempt to question her. Many duties
intervened, and so I forgot the whole matter for several weeks. But on
25 July I thought it might be just as well to test her eye for measure,
and this reminded me of the yard-stick. So I asked for fun: "Do you
remember that I showed you the yard-stick?" "Yes!" was her prompt
reply. In astonishment I continued: "How many centimetres are there to
the metre?" "100!" "And how many decimetres to twenty centimetres?"
"2." "And how many decimetres in two and a half centimetres?" "25."
Now, for the joke of the thing, I determined to test the accuracy of
her eye, for I had not yet fetched the yard-stick, and she had, in
fact, not seen it for many weeks. So I pointed to the outside edge of a
small picture-frame that I--at a guess--took to be about twenty-two
centimetres in length. At the same time I must own that I have never
exercised my judgment in this line to any very great extent. "How long
is this lower edge?" I asked her, "from _here_ to _here_?" (pointing):
her answer was, "25." I then tested it by the stick; it was twenty-six!
I pointed to a larger frame, putting the same question, she answered
"50." I measured, and found it to be 75. Again I showed her a smaller
picture, and she rapped "19." Then I showed her a piece of chocolate--"7"
was her reply--it was seven and a half. Later on, when she was in the
mood she became able to guess within _half_ a centimetre at a distance
of about thirty centimetres and at greater distances--up to one metre;
I estimated the difference to vary from about one to ten centimetres.
Of late I have not given her much practice of this kind, for from the
beginning she has not cared much for it. But I have made the experiment
of seeing whether she can distinguish colours in the same way we do. To
make this test I daubed some of the most important colours on a sheet
of paper, writing the name beneath each, and the next day I daubed the
same colours on another piece of paper--but in different sequence, and
without adding their names. The ready response to my questions gave
further proof as Lola's good memory as well as of h