22 THE HORSE OF MR. VON OSTEN 



hesitation: 3, 2; 4, 6; 3, 7; i.e., " S chirm " (parasol). 

 At another time a picture of a horse standing at a manger 

 was shown him and he was asked, " What does this 

 represent?" He promptly spelled "Pferd" (horse) 

 and then " Krippe " (manger) . 



He, moreover, gave evidence of an excellent memory. 

 In passing we might also mention that he knew the value 

 of all the German coins. But most astonishing of all was 

 the following: Hans carried the entire yearly calendar 

 in his head ; he could give you not only the date for each 

 day without having been previously taught anew, but 

 he could give you the date of any day you might mention. 

 He could also answer such inquiries as this : " If the 

 eighth day of a month comes on Tuesday, what is the 

 date for the following Friday ? " He could tell the time 

 to the minute by a watch and could answer off-hand the 

 question, " Between what figures is the small hand of a 

 watch at 5 minutes after half-past seven ? " or, " How 

 many minutes has the large hand to travel between seven 

 minutes after a quarter past the hour, and three quarters . 

 past ? " Tasks that were given him but once would 

 be repeated correctly upon request. The sentence: 

 " Brticke und Weg sind vom Feinde besetzt " (The 

 bridge and the road are held by the enemy), was given 

 to Hans one day and upon the following day he tapped 

 consecutively the 58 numbers which were necessary for a 

 correct response. He recognized persons after having 

 seen them but once — yes, even their photographs taken 

 in previous years and bearing but slight resemblance. 



A corresponding high degree of sensory activity 

 seemed to accompany these astonishing feats of memory 

 and reason. Although the horse is not usually credited 

 with a very keen sense of vision, Hans was able to count 



