METHOD OF INSTRUCTION 247 



Two of the pins were now set up and the command 

 given : " Raise the foot ! — One, two ! " Mr. von Osten 

 again aided the establishment of the proper association by 

 using his hand as before. At the same time the two pins 

 were pointed out, and the order was always without ex- 

 ception from left to right. Gradually it became unneces- 

 sary to touch the foot or to point to the pins, and instead 

 the question was introduced : " How many are there ? ", in 

 order that the horse should become accustomed to these 

 words as an invitation to give the taps when he saw the 

 wooden pins before him. 



Then three pins were taken and the words " one, two, 

 three " were spoken, and so on. In naming a number 

 the preceding ones were always named along with it, in 

 order that the normal order might thus be learned at the 

 same time. Later the number alone, without the preced- 

 ing ones, sufficed to elicit the proper number of taps. 

 The last word of the series thus becomes characteristic 

 of the series as a whole. It differs from all the others, 

 and thus becomes the sign for the whole series of num- 

 bers thus named, each of which arises as a memory image 

 at the proper place in the series and is accompanied by a 

 tap of the foot. Thus, Mr. von Osten at any rate had 

 accounted to himself for his success. 



But Hans was not to acquire merely this relatively me- 

 chanical process of counting (hardly to be called count- 

 ing), but he was to acquire also some meaning content 

 for the number terms. For this purpose everything de- 

 pended upon the concept " and ". Only he who can grasp 

 its meaning will be able to understand a number. 2 is 

 I and I, 3 is 2 and i. Mr. von Osten had someone hold 

 a large cloth before the horse, where the wooden pins 

 usually were placed. He then had the cloth taken uo and 



