178 THE HORSE OF MR. VON OSTEN 



tarily, but that he was convinced that the dog could see 

 from the questioner's face, when he must cease barking, 

 for he would never for an instant divert his gaze during 

 the process. Huggins was unable, however, to discover 

 the nature of the effective signs. This satisfactory, 

 though still unproven, explanation has been accepted by 

 specialists, among them Sir John Lubbock.'" I, too, 

 regard this dog as a predecessor of our Hans. 



A similar case is reported by Mr. Hugo Kretschmer, 

 a writer of Breslau, in the " Schlesische Zeitung " of 

 August 21, 1904. To him I am beholden for a detailed 

 written statement, which he has kindly permitted me to 

 use in this connection. The gentleman named, first 

 trained his dog to ring the table-bell, and this, by press- 

 ing the dog's paw upon the bell-button. When the dog 

 had learned to do this independently, his master tried to 

 teach him the rudiments of numbers, in such a way that 

 the animal was to give one ring of the bell for the num- 

 ber I, two for 2, etc. But these attempts failed utterly 

 and had to be abandoned. But Mr. Kretschmer had 

 noticed that he was able to get the dog to ring any num- 

 ber which he, Mr. Kretchmer, might decide upon. 

 (Success was always rewarded by a bit of bread and 

 butter.) At first Mr. Kretschmer tried to imagine vividly 

 only the final number, but failed thereby to elicit correct 

 responses from the dog. But he did succeed when he tried 

 making a series of separate volitions. Thus for the num- 

 ber 5, he would " will " each separate push of the button 

 on the part of the dog. Even so, however, he never got 

 beyond 9, for then the dog would become impatient and 

 would ring the bell continuously. Anything that diverted 

 the dog's attention, such as noises, etc., also entailed 

 failure. In these tests master and dog had faced each 



