LOLA 



THOUGHT CAPACITY IN ANIMALS 



IT was in the year 1904 that the first experiments 

 towards understanding an animal's ability to 

 think were brought into public light. Wilhelm 

 von Osten then introduced his stallion Hans II to all 

 who seemed interested in the subject, and the most 

 diametrically opposed opinions were soon rife with 

 regard to the abilities of this horse, to which von 

 Osten maintained he had succeeded in teaching both 

 spelling and arithmetic. 



The animal's mental activity was said to lie in a 

 simple form of thinking, called into being and intensi- 

 fied by means of a certain amount of instruction. 

 Von Osten, who had been a schoolmaster, had pre- 

 viously spent some fourteen years in testing the 

 intelligence of two other horses before he ventured 

 to make his experiences public, and the performances 

 of these animals were not only remarkable, but of far- 

 reaching importance. 



Hans I, aged twelve, died in 1905. He had never 

 appeared in public, since his abilities had been 

 relatively modest. He had, nevertheless, been able 

 to count up to five, as well as carry out quite a number 

 of verbal instructions. It was Hans II, however, 

 that convinced his master as early as 1902 of his 

 ability to comprehend a far greater range of the 



