MY LIFE IN THE ANIMAL TRADE 31 
and I had come to the conclusion that the prevalent mode of 
procedure was not only cruel, but also stupid and ineffectual. 
Brutes, after all, are beings akin to ourselves. Their minds 
are formed on the same plan as our minds; the differences 
are differences of degree only, not of kind. They will repay 
cruelty with hatred, and kindness with trust. What, there- 
fore, could be more foolish than the senseless manner in 
which every spark of intelligence was driven out of the 
hapless pupils? I knew full well from long and intimate 
association with the lower animals that their understanding 
develops wonderfully by close friendship with man, and | 
was convinced that far more could be achieved by gentleness 
and sympathy than was ever accomplished by tyrannical 
cruelty. This, however, was not my only discovery. I had 
also found from experience that animals of the same species 
differed most remarkably in character, and from this I inferred 
that if the talents of each animal were to be fully developed, 
individual tuition during training would be absolutely essential. 
Here again we have a point of similarity to ourselves. These, 
then, were my ideas upon this not unimportant subject, and 
about twenty years ago I proceeded to put them into practice. 
I established a circus in Hamburg in 1887, and before 
long I found a trainer whom 
I induced to adopt my new 
methods of educating the 
animals. I met this man 
(whose name was Deyer- 
ling) in England, and as he 
happened to be unemployed 
I engaged him on the un- 
derstanding that he should 
work on my system only. 
I at first showed him what 
I proposed to do by training dogs and cats to perform tricks 
without ever resorting to force (except in cases of gross 
disobedience), and I then expressed to him my opinion that if 
Hagenbeck’s first circus. 
