supposed to be somewhat less naïve, as is shown by the experience of Mr. Schillings, who quite unconsciously, for many months had been giving not only the finer, but also the grosser signs, and never guessed the true nature of affairs until I explained it to him. Nor was it an easy matter for me to get at the facts involved in the process, although it now all appears so very simple.
On the other hand, it is also true that Mr. von Osten knew nothing whatever of the finer, more minute signals, such as the final jerk, the head-movement upward, downward, etc., and it is difficult to conceive how he might have gained any knowledge of them. We might perhaps conceive of four possible sources. He might have come upon them by chance. But it is extremely improbable that in the million of possible forms of signaling he should have hit upon those that at the same time represent the natural expressive movements. Or he might have derived a knowledge of them through a study of the pertinent literature. I have searched diligently for such a source, in both the old and the modern literature, but in vain. From the sixteenth century on, there is a series of accounts of horses that were able to spell and to solve problems in arithmetic, and the reports on learned dogs go back even to the time of Justinian, in the middle of the sixth century.[107] All of these animals were kept for purpose of speculation and were exhibited for pecuniary reasons only. Nor does one read that any person could work with these animals off-hand, which was the characteristic feature of the Osten horse.[AN] In many cases we find mention made of the signs to which the animals reacted. Thus for the beginning or stopping of the animal's scraping or tapping, the signals were respectively raising and lowering of the eyes on the part of the trainer,[113] lowering and raising of the whip[114] or of the arm, stepping forward and backward,[115] and as a closing signal a slight bending forward.[116] The signals for beginning and ceasing to bark in the case of dogs, were the trainer's commands to "speak", and, at the same time, his looking at the dog, and then looking away for a closing sign;[117] or a mouth-movement on the part of the trainer and then a withdrawing of the left hand which had been resting on the hip.[118] Among the signals for nodding and shaking the head we find the following mentioned: raising and lowering the hand or arm[119] or the whip;[120] a movement of the hand toward the horse's nose, as a signal for nodding, and an arm-movement as a signal for shaking the head.[121] For this last, we find recommended also a slight breathing upon the animal,[122] and—in the case of dogs—a mouth-movement simulating blowing, or a turn of the fingers.[123] (We will not dwell upon the many signals for selecting objects, which are mentioned, since we have already discussed this point on [page 230f]). In all these instances it is plain that we have to do with purely voluntary and "artificial" signals. The only example of involuntary signs which Mr. von Osten could have found in literature, was that of Huggins's dog, which need not be considered here, since, as was said on [page 177], the really effective signs in that case were not discovered. A third means by which Mr. von Osten might have gained a knowledge of the involuntary, natural expressive signs, would have been by observing others. If he had had opportunity of observing another von Osten and another Hans, he might have gotten at the secret. But since this was not the case, this possibility vanishes. A fourth possibility is self-observation. We would then have to assume that Mr. von Osten at first really tried to educate the horse to think, but soon recognized the fruitlessness of such an attempt. At the same time, he then would have noticed his own involuntary movements and their effect upon the horse, and having noted them, voluntarily reduced their extent and utilized them in the training process. But here also there is much that militates against this assumption when we consider how great is the difficulty of consciously refining movements which at first were rather coarse, unless it be by the adjustment of the proper degree of concentration of attention, a subtlety of method of which we could hardly believed Mr. von Osten capable. We must remember, also, that in the first publication regarding Hans which, by the way, marks the beginning of his career, ("Das lesende und rechnende Pferd," by Major-General E. Zobel, in the "Weltspiegel" of July 7, 1904), we may read the following: "He (Mr. von Osten) is always willing to have the horse undergo an examination on the part of a stranger, and promises that after Hans has become fairly well acquainted he will display the same degree of efficiency as he displays with the master,
himself." This occurred at a time when Mr. Schillings, the man who was destined to prove the truth of the statement, had not yet appeared on the scene. How was Mr. von Osten to know beforehand that every questioner, who might appear, would execute the same movements that he himself had used? We would recall also that not one in the great multitude of persons who worked successfully with the horse in the absence of Mr. von Osten, had noticed, even in the slightest measure, any of these movements in themselves. The position and repute of these persons vouches for their veracity,—among them were the writer of the article just mentioned, the Count zu Castell, Count Matuschka, Count von Eickstedt-Peterswaldt, General Köring, Dr. Sander, Mr. H. Suermondt and Mr. H. von Tepper-Laski. Some of these gentlemen were quite unwilling to believe that they executed such movements. This happened in the case of Mr. von Tepper-Laski, who had visited Hans ten times and who had, during the course of these visits, frequently worked alone with the horse and had received correct responses. Count Eickstedt, too, although he was one of those who had been made acquainted with the nature of the movements involved before being allowed to visit the horse, was unable to note them either in his observation of Mr. von Osten, or of himself, when, in compliance with his own wish, he was left alone with Hans. Nor did any of the laboratory subjects, some of whom were well trained in introspection, discover the true nature of affairs. They were thoroughly astonished when the facts of the case were explained to them. And I, also, as was mentioned on [page 100], did not become aware of my own movements, until I had noted those of Mr. von Osten. In fine, everything would indicate that we have here not an intention to deceive the public, but a case of pure self-deception.[AO]
This self-deception is easily understood when we consider the two predominent characteristics of the man: the pedantry of the pedagogue, and his proneness to be possessed by a single idea, which is a peculiarity of those of an inventive turn of mind. Adhering closely to a preformed plan, he carefully and narrowly circumscribed the scope and order of instruction. He would not go on to the number 5 if he were not thoroughly convinced that the 4 had been completely mastered, nor would he go on to a more difficult problem in multiplication, until he felt certain that Hans was entirely proficient in the problems of the simpler sort. If he had ever put a question to Hans before its regular order, he would have discovered, to his amazement, that there really existed no difficulties for Hans, and also that the horse really required no appreciable time to acquire new material. Mr. von Osten would have had a like experience if he had asked Hans concerning the value of Chinese coins or the logarithm of 1000. However, he never did anything of the kind, but always adhered closely to his plan. He required the questioner to say: "2 and 2", and never "2 plus 2". Nor were capitals or Latin script to be used in the written material. And if upon request he did so, he did it, without faith in the result, and hence there was failure. And so he declared that "if you use Latin script Hans becomes confused and will be out of sorts for several weeks thereafter." Mr. von Osten is, and ever will remain, the schoolmaster, and will never become the psychologist, the "soul-vivisectionist". Who would work a child with such puzzling questions? and Hans was to him like a child. Thus the old man believed himself to be a witness of a continuous, organic development of the animal soul—a development which in reality had no other existence than in his own imagination.
Added to this pedantry was an extraordinary uncritical attitude of mind, induced by his obsession by one favorite idea, which blinded him to all objections. He met objectionable observations on the part of others in one of two ways. One method was by attributing to Hans certain remarkable qualities, such as an extraordinary keenness of hearing and a wonderful power of memory, or again, certain defects, such as moodiness and stubbornness,—which as a matter of fact, were only so many back-doors by which he might escape from the necessity of offering adequate explanations. When Hans was able to give off-hand a gentleman's name which he had heard years before, it was called a case of extraordinary memory. When the horse insisted that 2 times 2 was 5, he maintained that it was an example of animal stubbornness. There was still a simpler method of overcoming inconvenient objections and that was by ignoring them altogether. The number 1, the simplest and most fundamental in the system of numbers, was one of the most difficult for Hans. ([Page 67f.]). Mr. von Osten was aware of this, but thought little of it. During the very first visit of Professor Stumpf, Mr. von Osten asked the horse: "By how much must you increase the numerator of the fraction 7/8, in order to get a whole number?" Hans repeatedly answered incorrectly and always tapped numbers that were too great. The same question was then asked concerning the fraction 5/8, and immediately there was a correct response, (the favorite number 3). Mr. von Osten said very naïvely: "In the case of the difference of 1, he always goes wrong. It was just what I expected." Mr. von Osten still relates that the distinction between right and left created far greater difficulty for Hans than all of the work in fractions, and that even to-day it is not thoroughly established; also, that the selection of colored cloths is often a failure still, although it was one of the first things in which he was given instruction. It appears never to have dawned upon Mr. von Osten that the arts in which Hans seemed to excel, also formed the standing repertoire of so many trained horses, regarding whom it was well-known that they owed all of their cleverness to the training given them by their masters. This fact alone should have induced him to make some form of critical investigation.
When Hans suddenly became a celebrity, and he, himself, the object of an enthusiastic following, the whole affair evidently took Mr. von Osten off his feet. Strangers took the further instruction of the horse in charge, and the rate and degree of Hans's progress became disconcerting. One day it came to pass that the horse even understood French, and the old gentleman, whose apostolic exterior had always exerted a high degree of suggestion upon his admirers, in turn fell captive to the spell of retroactive mass-suggestion. He no longer was uneasy concerning the most glaring kinds of failure. On one occasion he even insisted upon the completion of a series of tests in which procedure was "without knowledge", which promised no results whatever. "The animal's stubbornness must be broken," he commented. On the other hand, he regarded every criticism as a form of personal insult. And once he showed a member of the committee of the Society for the Protection of Animals the door, because the man, without having looked at his watch, wanted to show it to Hans and ask him the time. Many other critics had similar experiences.
Summarizing the remarks of this chapter, our judgment must be as follows: It is in the highest degree improbable that Mr. von Osten purposely trained the horse to respond to certain cues. It is also improbable that he knew that in every test he was giving signals, (although I can form no judgment concerning what happened after the publication of the latest report). To assume the contrary would land us in the midst of insoluble contradictions of the many ascertained facts in the case. The explanation here essayed, however, should prevent that. To be sure, we, must then reckon with curious inner contradictions in Mr. von Osten's character. But such contradictions are to be found, upon earnest analysis, in nearly every human character. And Mr. von Osten may say with the poet: "Ich bin kein ausgeklügelt Buch. Ich bin ein Mensch mit seinem Widerspruch."
FOOTNOTES:
[AJ] The author intends to take up the problem of counting, so-called, on the part of animals and of the principle involved, in another work soon to be forthcoming.
[AK] There are some who believe they are warranted in concluding the opposite from the structure of the animal's brain alone. We may say that the brain of the horse, compared with that of the ape, or even that of the dog, represents a relatively low type of development. But owing to the rapid changes in the views, often contradictory, concerning the nature of the nervous structures and processes underlying the thought process, any conclusion based on such views would be premature. For this reason we cannot agree with the French physiologist who was dissecting the brain of a horse and, struck by its smallness of size, exclaimed: "When I saw your proud look and beautiful neck, I hesitated a moment before mounting upon your back. But now that I have seen how small is your brain, I no longer have any qualm about using you."[98]