ANIMAL CONSCIOUSNESS 23 



the windows of distant houses and the street urchins 

 cHmbing about on neighboring roofs. He had an ear 

 for the most subtle nuances of the voice. He caught 

 every word, — no matter how softly it was spoken — so 

 that we were not allowed to whisper the answer to a 

 problem, even when standing at a distance of several 

 yards, since it would be equivalent — so Mr. von Osten 

 declared — to giving the result to the horse. 



Musical ability also comes into the category of Hans' 

 accomplishments. He possessed, not only an absolute 

 tone consciousness — a gift granted to few of us in the 

 human world — which enabled him to recognize a note 

 sounded or sung to him as c, d, etc. (within the once 

 accented scale of c-major), but also an infallible feeling 

 for intervals, and could therefore determine whether two 

 tones, sounded simultaneously, composed a third or fifth, 

 etc. Without difficulty he analyzed compound clangs into 

 their components ; he indicated their agreeableness or 

 disagreeableness and could inform us which tones must be 

 eliminated to make consonance out of dissonance. C, d 

 and e were given simultaneously and Hans was asked: 

 " Does that sound pleasant ? " He shook his head. 

 " What tone must be omitted to make it pleasant? " Hans 

 trod twice — indicating tone " d." When the seventh 

 chord, d-f-a-c, was sounded, he shook his head disap- 

 provingly. He evidently was old-fashioned in his musical 

 tastes and not agreeably disposed toward modern music, 

 so he indicated by tapping that the seventh, c, would 

 have to be eliminated ; thus changing the seventh chord 

 to a minor chord in order to obtain harmony. When 

 asked what tones might not be given simultaneously 

 with the fourth and sixth, Hans indicated consecutively 

 the third, fifth and seventh ; that the first might be added, 



