CHAPTER VI 

 GENESIS OF THE REACTION OF THE HORSE 



In the preceding discussion we have regarded the 

 achievements of the horse as well as Mr. von Osten's 

 explanation of them, as matters of fact. Let us now con- 

 sider the question: How did the horse come by these 

 achievements, and how did its master arrive at his curi- 

 ous theory in explanation of them? Did he indeed seek 

 to instill in the horse's mind the rudiments of human 

 culture through long years of painstaking instruction in 

 accordance with the method described in Supplement I 

 (page 245) ? If that is the case, then, of course his hoped- 

 for success was only seeming, not real. Or did he, as so 

 many critics aver, systematically train the horse to re- 

 spond automatically to certain cues, and propound his 

 theory merely for the purpose of misleading the public? 

 There might possibly be another alternative, viz.: was 

 there a mixture of instruction and of training to respond 

 to cues? 



The production of the horse's achievements would not 

 require a great deal of explanation, if it were a case of 

 mere training for the purpose of establishing certain re- 

 sponses to certain cues. It might be desirable, however, 

 before deciding in favor of one of these possibilities, to 

 indicate briefly the process of development, as it might 

 occur, if the point of view is taken that bona fide instruc- 

 tion was given. 



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