yo THE HORSE OF MR. VON OSTEN 



spectators someone to whom the horse was accustomed to 

 respond or one from whom he regularly received his food, 

 would such an influence be effective.* But such cases 



* Mr. Schillings, however, did succeed in making a number of tests 

 with the co-operation of others who had never before worked with the 

 horse. These tests were made under the follovring conditions: The 

 horse was standing in his stall, when Mr. Schillings and another gentle 

 man approached him. There was no one else present. Mr. Schillings, who 

 tried to remain as passive inwardly, as possible, asked his partner to 

 think consecutively of different numbers between one and 20, which thus 

 were known to him alone. Hans was then commanded by Mr. Schillings 

 to tap the numbers, which he did, to the great astonishment of the men, 

 and especially of Mr. Schillings. In like manner Mr. Sander, a staff 

 physician in the marine, received — so he writes me — three correct 

 responses to four questions which he put to the horse. It happened 

 also in the case of two scientific men and finally, too, in my own case 

 when I first came in contact with the horse, (see page 88). The horse's 

 reaction was brought about in the same way in every one of these 

 instances. Mr. Schillings, in bending forward slightly, thereby started 

 the horse a-tapping, and his companion — just as innocently — interrupted 

 the process by means of a movement of his head, when the right number 

 of taps was reached. 



I later tried similar experiments together with Mr. Hahn. I was 

 aware of the answer to the riddle at the time, but he was not. Mr. 

 Hahn stepped in front of the horse and thought intently of certain 

 numbers. I did the questioning, that is, I got the horse to tap. In 

 twelve tests Hans responded correctly in only two instances. In the 

 ten others he always tapped beyond the number Mr. Hahn had in 

 mind, e.g., 21 instead of 2, and was evidently awaiting a movement on 

 my part. When we exchanged r61es, Mr. Hahn doing the questioning 

 and I doing the " thinking," the horse would not respond at all, although 

 as a rule Mr. Hahn had been fairly successful in working with him 

 alone. I had gradually gained so much influence over the horse, that 

 he would scarcely attend to any one else when I was about — Mr. von 

 Osten hardly excepted. 



In this connection I would prefer to avoid the term " rapport," which 

 may rise in the minds of many, since it has been used so much in con- 

 nection with the phenomena of hypnotism, for I would not obscure a 

 fact that is clear by giving it a name that is vague. 



