28 THE HORSE OF MR. VON OSTEN 



length of time to the horse and had also sought diligently ? 

 for the signs in question— said, " I was fully convinced 

 that I would be able to explain the problem in this way, 

 but I was mistaken." The president of the "Inter- 

 nationale Artisten Genossenschaft," a person who knew 

 all the usual means of' control in trick performances, went 

 over to the other side as a result of his observations. 



There were others who sought for auditory signs. The 

 opinion was expressed that " Hans was unable to answer 

 the simplest question such as 'What is two plus three?' 

 whenever the questioner's tone of voice differed from 

 that of the master's." Another put chief stress upon the 

 changing inflection ; furthermore, a " high degree of 

 auditory sensitivity " was often offered in explanatibn. f 



The sense of smell was also made to bear some bur- 

 dens. With its help, for instance, Hans was believed to 

 be able to recognize the photograph of some one present, 

 supposing, of course, that the person had carried the 

 picture about with him, thus allowing it to be impreg- 

 nated with his peculiar personal odor. One even sug- 

 gested that the heat radiating from the questioner's body 

 and the electric stimulus conducted underground to 

 Hans's foot were sufficient explanation for his remark- 

 able feats. 



Even the so-called N-rays, of one-day fame, which 

 were supposed to radiate from the human brain when in 

 activity, were offered as a solution. A similar thing may 

 have been in the mind of the " natural philosopher " who 

 even after the publication of the December report, wrote ' 

 as follows in one of the journals : " On the basis of most 

 careful control, I have come to the conclusion, that the 

 brain of the horse receives the thought-waves which radi- 

 ate from the brain of his master; for mental work is, 



