ANIMAL CONSCIOUSNESS 21 



this case, therefore, first 9, then 10). Or again: " I have 

 a number in mind. I subtract 9, and have 3 as a re- 

 mainder. What is the number I had in mind?" — 12. 

 " What are the factors of 28 ? " — Thereupon Hans tapped 

 consecutively 2, 4, 7, 14, 28. " In the number 365287149 

 I place a decimal point after the 8. How many are there 

 now in the hundreds place ? " — 5. " How many in the 

 ten thousandths place ? " — 9. It will be noticed, there- 

 fore, that he was able to operate with numbers far ex- 

 ceeding 100, indeed he could manipulate those of six 

 places. We were told that this, however, was no longer 

 arithmetical computation iii the true sense of the term; 

 Hans merely knew after the analogy of 10 and 100 that 

 the thousands take the fourth place, the ten-thousands 

 the fifth, etc. If an error entered into Hans' answer, he 

 could nearly always correct it immediately upon being 

 asked : " By how many units did you go wrong ? " 



Hans, furthermore, was able to read the German read- 

 ily, whether written or printed. Mr. von Osten, how- 

 ever, taught him only the small letters, not the capitals. 

 If a series of placards with written words were placed 

 before the horse, he could step up and point with his 

 nose to any of the words required of him. He could 

 even spell some of the words. This was done by the aid 

 of a table devised by Mr. von Osten, in which every 

 letter of the alphabet, as well as a number of diphthongs 

 had an appropriate place which the horse could designate 

 by means of a pair of numbers. Thus in the fifth hori- 

 zontal row " s " had first place ; " sch " second, " ss," 

 third, etc.; so that the horse would indicate the letter 

 "s" by treading first 5, then i, "sch," by 5 and 2, 

 " ss " by 5 and 3. Upon being asked " What is this 

 woman holding in her hand?" Hans spelled without 



