loo THE HORSE OF MR. VON OSTEN 



in the horse's response. But only by observing the final 

 movement in the case of Mr. von Osten did I discover 

 that I, too, performed a slight erection of the head. Ob- 

 servation of others was less difficult than the observation 

 of one's own movements. As in the case of all other signs 

 given to the horse, these movements were so slight that 

 they were prone to escape notice even though one's whole 

 attention were concentrated upon their detection. I also 

 questioned whether in my attempts to disturb the horse by 

 means of loud calls, it were really the call or some simul- 

 taneous involuntary movement which was the true cause 

 of the interruption. The doubt was justified, for when 

 I finally learned to cry out vehemently without making 

 the slightest move, all my crying was in vain. Also it 

 had seemed to me at first as if I were able to induce the 

 horse to rear, not only by means of the proper sign or 

 movement, but also by a mere command, but I found 

 later that in every case there was always some movement, 

 were it ever so slight. Finally I tried to simulate volun- 

 tarily the oft-mentioned involuntary jerks of the head. 

 Although it is not very difficult to execute them at will 

 with almost the same minuteness as when they were per- 

 formed involuntarily, I still did not succeed in getting a 

 series of such jerks of equal fineness throughout. In 

 spite of (and partly on account of) the most concentrated 

 attention, there would be from time to time a jerk of 

 somewhat greater extent and energy. As soon as the 

 movement had been executed, I was able to form a good 

 judgment as to its relative extent, but I was unable to 

 regulate the impulse beforehand. 



With the following comment the chapter will be con- 

 cluded. Introspections are necessarily subjective in char- 

 acter. If they are to possess general validity, they must 



