202 THE HORSE OF MR. VON OSTEN 



some form of approval or disapproval — ^^just as a school- 

 boy begins to doubt his answer if the teacher remains 

 silent for a short time. In terms of the results of our 

 experimentation this would mean that whenever the ques- 

 tioner did not resume the erect posture, after Hans had 

 given the final tap with the left foot, then the horse would 

 immediately begin once more to tap with the other foot 

 (page 6i). 



— As the evil characteristics, so, too, the good. Thus, his 

 precipitancy, which was'supposedly evidenced by his be- 

 ginning to tap before the questioner had enunciated the 

 question, was nothing but a reflection of the questioner's 

 own precipitancy in bending forward (page 57). Never 

 did Hans evince the slightest trace of spontaneity. He 

 never spelled, of his own accord, anything like " Hans is 

 hungry," for instance. He was rather like a machine 

 that must be started and kept going by a certain amount 

 of fuel (in the form of bread and carrots). The desire 

 for food did not have to be operative in every case. The 

 tapping might ensue mechanically as a matter of habit — 

 for horses are to a large extent creatures of habit. This 

 lack of spontaneity could hardly be reconciled with the 

 horse's reputation for cleverness. It would not be neces- 

 sary to touch upon the signs that were supposed to be- 

 token genius: the intelligent eye, the high forehead, the 

 carriage of the head, which clearly showed that " a real 

 thought process was going on inside ", — all these, we 

 said, would not need mentioning, if they had not been 

 taken seriously by sober-minded folk. If there is a report 

 that Hans turned appreciatively toward visitors who 

 made some remark in praise of his accomplishments, — it 

 is evidence qnly of the observer's imaginativeness. 



Turning from a consideration of the horse to that of 



