148 THE HORSE OF MR. VON OSTEN 



cause of this lies in nothing other than the inadequate con- 

 centration of attention on the part of the questioner and 

 less often in an extravagant expenditure of concentration, 

 which explodes immediately after the first tap on the 

 part of Hans (as in the case of my first tests) ; but usu- 

 ally the cause lay in a complete lack of concentration, 

 though the same result may be produced by various 

 causes. It is usually after 2 to 4 taps of the horse's foot 

 that the questioner, who does not concentrate, makes his 

 first move which naturally puts an end to the tapping 

 on the part of the horse. As a rule this jerk follows im- 

 mediately upon the second tap. (On the other hand, re- 

 laxation of attention is very difficult upon the first tap. 

 See page 95). The questioner, however, would expect 

 further tapping and therefore would not bring his body 

 back to a completely erect position and the result would 

 be a 3, the last unit of which would be given by the 

 final tap with the left foot. Here we also obtained light 

 as to the answers which Hans gave in those tests in 

 which the method was that of " procedure without 

 knowledge". These responses had nothing to do with 

 the problem, for neither the horse nor any one else knew 

 the solution. But in the horse's responses the degree of 

 tension of the questioner's concentration was faithfully 

 mirrored. An experimenter who was as skillful in con- 

 centrating as Mr. von Osten, obtained — almost without 

 exception — very high numbers, whereas one whose con- 

 centration was slight would receive in response to nearly 

 all questions the answers 2, 3 or 4. Thus, the Count zu 

 Castell received in response to seventeen questions the an- 

 swer 2, three times, the answer 3, six times, and the 

 answer 4, four times, two answers being accidentally cor- 

 rect. 



