THE HORSE OF MR. VON OSTEN 



CHAPTER I 



THE PROBLEM OF ANIMAL CONSCIOUSNESS 

 AND " CLEVER HANS " 



If we would appreciate the interest that has been 

 aroused everywhere by the wonderful horse solving 

 arithmetical problems, we must first consider briefly the 

 present state of the problem of animal consciousness.* 

 Animal consciousness cannot be directly gotten at, and 

 the psychologist must therefore seek to appreciate it on 

 the basis of the animal's behavior and with the assistance 

 of conceptions borrowed from human psychology. 

 Hence it is that animal psychology rests upon uncertain 

 foundations with the result that the fundamental prin- 

 ciples have been repeatedly questioned and agreement 

 has not yet been attained. The most important of these 

 questions is, " Does the animal possess consciousness, 

 and is it like the human consciousness ? " Comparative 

 psychologists divide into three groups on this question. 



The one group allows consciousness to the lower 

 forms, but emphasizes the assertion that between the 

 animal and the human consciousness there is an impassable 



* Since the present treatise is intended for the larger public, this 

 brief resume will probably be welcome to many. 



'S 



