140 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



would be as much of a miracle as a Centaur, or a Pegasus, or a Unicorn. 

 All these creatures belong, and with equal obviousness, to the world of 

 fable; and the one falls as far outside the realm of actual psychology 

 as does the other escape the ken of the zoologist. If one is inclined 

 to regard that so obvious a proposition would at once command assent, 

 he need only overhear the talk of those who come away from these 

 ' marvelous ' performances to be assured that the calculating horse and 

 the unicorn are in popular estimation horses of very different colors. 

 The latter is at once put aside as belonging to the world of myth; but 

 the former, though not to be met with in every stable, is regarded as 

 falling within the occasional possibilities of mundane horsedom. 



If we forget for the moment that there is absolutely nothing in a 

 horse's life that would supply the least occasion for developing so re- 

 markable a talent as is needed for counting or spelling, we may bring 

 ourselves to consider what kind of a miracle the calculating horse would 

 stand for. An extravagant admirer of the Berlin horse, in maintain- 

 ing that ' Hans's ' education is about on a par with that of a boy (even 

 a Berlin boy) of twelve years, has at least the courage of his convic- 

 tions; nothing less would suffice to fit that genius of a horse to handle 

 numbers and words and the abstract relation of things as his friends 

 allege. And if a Zulu or an Esquimau were, after an equally brief 

 schooling, to turn out a Newton or a Darwin, it would be rather less 

 of a marvel. 



To gain a common-sense view of the matter, observe a bright child 

 of three years of age : note how it gives a hundred evidences for every 

 hour of its waking existence, of a ceaselessly busy occupation with all 

 sorts of ideas and little mental problems; how it sets up in its play 

 one situation after another, sees new relations, devises a new use for 

 an old toy, and creates a little world of its own imagining, for which 

 it makes rules and breaks them, pretends that things are happening 

 and gives reasons for their doing so; and so hour after hour proves 

 itself possessed of a very acute little mind to which ideas and rela- 

 tions and situations are very interesting and familiarly handled mental 

 tools or playthings. It is very true that much of this we know only 

 because the child keeps up a constant chatter in its play, and speaks 

 for itself as well as its toy or dolls, reveals its inventions in words, and 

 thus tells the story, which without the explanation we could in our 

 grown-up remoteness from such occupation but feebly understand. 

 But the very possibility of learning all this language and of using it 

 is itself a direct tribute to the intelligence that animates the little brain 

 and reveals its finer quality, its greater possibilities. Language helps, 

 most decidedly helps, the mind to grow in scope and power ; but it does 

 not create the capacity which its use requires. "We have, moreover, 

 some very interesting accounts of the cleverness of young children, who 

 from early infancy were both deaf and blind, and who from their dark 



