5 o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



wolves of mature age as newly-caught elephants. But, so far from 

 this being the ease, it is safe to assert that it would be impossible to 

 train the most intelligent company of pointers, setters, or collies ever 

 got together to perform the feats accomplished with such promptness 

 and accuracy by all regularly trained circus-elephants. 



The successful training of all elephants up to the required working 

 point is so fully conceded in India that the market value of an animal 

 depends wholly upon his age, sex, build, and the presence or absence 

 of good tusks. The animal's education is either sufficient for the 

 buyer, or, if not, he knows it can be made so. 



The time required for the training of newly-captured elephants, 

 and fitting them for all kinds of work, varies from four to six months, 

 although instances are known wherein some have been worked in har- 

 ness two months after capture. 



The fourth quality, which serves as a key to the mental capacity 

 and mental processes of an animal, is the degree of its 



Promptness and Accuracy in the Execution of Man's Orders. 



The most impressive feature of a performance of elephants in the 

 circus-ring is the fact that every command uttered is obeyed with true 

 military promptness and freedom from hesitation, and so accurately 

 that an entire performance is often conducted and concluded without 

 the repetition of a single command. One by one the orders are exe- 

 cuted with the most human-like precision and steadiness, amounting 

 sometimes to actual nonchalance. Human beings of the highest type 

 could scarcely do better. To some savage races for example, the na- 

 tive Australians, the veddahs of Ceylon, or the jackoons of the Malay 

 Peninsula I believe such a performance would be impossible, even un- 

 der training. I do not believe their minds act with sufficient rapidity 

 and accuracy to enable a company of them to go through with such a 

 wholly artificial performance as successfully as the elephant's. 



The thoughtful observer does not need to be told that the brain of 

 the ponderous quadruped acts, as far as it goes, with the same light- 

 ning rapidity and clearness as that of the most intelligent man this, 

 .too, be it remembered, in a performance wholly artificial and acquired, 

 in which the animal depends solely upon the words of the trainer. I 

 particularly noted the fact that the performance of Barn urn's ele- 

 phants was conducted without the use of any signs whatever. 



In the performance of Bartholomew's horses, of which I once kept a 

 record in detail, even the most accomplished members of his stud often 

 had to be commanded again and again before they would obey. A com- 

 mand was often repeated for the sixth time before the desired result 

 was obtained. I noted particularly that not one of his horses, which are 

 perhaps the most fully trained of any living, was an exception to this 

 rule, or performed his tasks with the prompt obedience and self-confi- 

 dence so noticeable in every one of the sixteen elephants. The horses 



