^2 THE HORSE OF MR. VON OSTEN 



horse — except that it caused occasional interruption. The 

 horse's responses, therefore, did not tend to become more 

 successful just because a number of persons were 

 simultaneously concentrating upon the result desired. 

 This was proven by the experiments which we repeatedly 

 made for this purpose. Only one person at a time had 

 any influence upon Hans. If two questioners tried to in- 

 fluence the horse at the same time, — other conditions being 

 the same, — success would be for the one who had the 

 greater control over the animal when working alone with 

 him. Prof. Stumpf and I made the following experiment. 

 Both of us stood to the right of the horse, each thinking 

 of a number. In ten such tests Hans always tapped my 

 number. When Stumpf concentrated upon 5 and I upon 

 8, the horse responded with 8, i. e., the larger number. 

 When Stumpf had 7 in mind, and I had 4, the response 

 would be 4, i. e., the smaller number. When Stumpf 

 thought of number 6, and I had fixed upon none, Hans 

 tapped 35. He was evidently awaiting my signal. When 

 I went away Stumpf again demanded the number 6, and 

 the horse responded properly. When I returned, Stumpf's 

 attempts again failed. On another occasion Count 

 Matuschka put a number of questions, while Mr. von 

 Osten stood behind him. All of the horse's responses 

 were correct, even the one answering the question: 

 "How much is 7 times 7?", which was difficult on 

 account of the great number of taps required. I was 

 able to note from the direction of the horse's eyes that he 

 was attending only to his master and not to the Count. 

 On still another occasion Mr. Grabow sang two tones— 

 the second being the fourth of the first— and asked Hans: 

 "How many intervals lie between?" I was standing 

 erect before the horse, and was thinking intently of the 



