EXPLANATION OF OBSERVATIONS 157 



to direct the horse to a placard near the end of a row 

 than one nearer the center (see page 81), we can 

 readily understand how it was that during the experimen- 

 tation carried on by the September-Commission (Supple- 

 ment III ; page 255), Hans was able to point out immedi-"~-? 

 ately the placards on which were written the names " Cas- \ 

 tell " and " Stumpf ", for they were at the two extreme 

 ends, but was unsuccessful in locating the one on which 

 was written the name " Miessner " which was not a bit 

 more difficult to read, but was located at the fourth place 

 in the row. He first approached the fifth card, then upon 

 repetition of the test he pointed out the other neighboring 

 tablet, viz., the third. 



In spelling, Hans was quite indifferent whether his 

 table with the eighty-four number signs upon it stood 

 before him, for he had no knowledge of letters. Neither 

 Mr. von Osten nor Mr. Schillings required it, for the 

 former knew the table by heart and Mr. Schillings told 

 me that before every test he made a note of the 

 numbers which were necessary to indicate the required 

 letters, trusting in this way to control the responses 

 of the horse and never guessing that by so doing 

 he was making it possible for the horse to answer cor- 

 rectly. The newspaper reports aroused much interest at 

 the time by stating that Hans was able to spell such 

 proper names as " Pliiskow " and " Bethmann-HoUweg ", 

 even to putting in the difficult " w " and " th ". The 

 friends of Mr. von Osten at the same time called attention 

 to the exquisite auditory acuteness of the horse which 

 enabled him to perceive the aspirated " w " and to dis- 

 criminate between the "th" and "t", (the "th" is 

 softer than the "t" in German. — Translator). This ex- 



