EXPLANATION OF OBSERVATIONS 193 



It is easy to explain the musical accomplishments. The 

 tones which were played for the horse, were known to 

 Mr. von Osten, since he himself played the harmonica, 

 or when someone else played it, he, Mr. von Osten, 

 could see the stoppers. He then thought of the number 



dence, he would do it without any further aid from the driver. For 

 this reason the happy owner felt certain that the animal possessed a 

 high order of intelligence and " that this horse does reason." What 

 sources of error were here operative, whether signs were given by means 

 of reins, or head or arm movements, could be determined only by a 

 careful examination of the case. 



And finally we would exercise some reserve in entertaining the sug- 

 gestions for the acoustic education of horses which have come from 

 various sources. Colonel Spohr '^ whom we have just been mention- 

 ing, thinks that it would not be a. difficult matter to get a horse 

 to respond with a walk to one smack of the lips, with a trot to two 

 smacks, and with a galop to three, and then he could be made to 

 slacken his pace once more into a trot in response to one long-drawn 

 " Pst ! " and to stop in response to two. Others have gone even further. 

 Decroix," at one time leader in veterinary affairs in France, conceived the 

 idea of working out a universal language as regards the commands that 

 are given to horses, in the humane purpose of sparing them the whip. 

 He called it " Volapiik hippique." For the commands " go," " right," 

 "left," and "halt," he suggests these: "Hi I" "Hal" " He I " 

 and " Ho ! " respectively. From these it was possible to make 

 eight combinations, such as " Hi ! Hi ! " for " Trot ! " " He ! He ! " for 

 " Left about " (while the single " He " was to mean " Forward, to the 

 left ! ") " Ho ! Ho ! " for " Back ! " etc. Decroix thought that the 

 whole system could be inculcated in a very few lessons. He even had 

 a medal struck which was to be awarded to the driver or rider who 

 should first exhibit a horse, thus instructed, to the Societe Nationale 

 d'Acclimatation de France (of which Decroix was president). Eight 

 years have elapsed since then, but we have heard of no one who has 

 earned the medal mentioned. In the future greater care will probably 

 be exercised in the putting forth of such suggestions, and two sources 

 of error may be guarded against, viz. : involuntary movements on the 

 part of the rider or driver, and imitation of the horses amongst them- 

 selves. (One horse, guarded by an experienced rider, may serve as 

 copy for ten others with inexperienced men in the saddle.) 



