PREFATORY NOTE 



[By James R. Angell] 



The University of Chicago 



It gives me great pleasure to accept the invitation of 

 the publishers to write a word of introduction for Mr. 

 Rahn's excellent translation of " Der Kluge Hans ", a 

 book which in the original has been but little known to 

 American readers. The present wave of interest in animal 

 life and behavior renders its appearance peculiarly ap- 

 propriate. 



No more remarkable tale of credulity founded on un- 

 conscious deceit was ever told, and were it offered as 

 fiction, it would take high rank as a work of imagination. 

 Being in reality a record of sober fact, it verges on the 

 miraculous. After -reading Mr. Pfungst's story one can 

 quite understand how sedate and sober Germany was for 

 months thrown into a turmoil of newspaper debate, which 

 for intensity and range of feeling finds its only parallel 

 in a heated political campaign. That the subject of the 

 controversy was the alleged ability of a trained horse to 

 ^olve complex arithmetical problems may excite gaiety 

 and even derision, until one hears the details. Scientists 

 and scholars of the highest eminence were drawn into the 

 conflict, which has not yet wholly subsided, although the 

 present report must be regarded as quite final in its ver- 

 dict. 



