164 HOW THE HOUSE LEARNS 



the various actions perspicacity is required in the 

 master and it is further necessary to know how 

 to choose horses of suitable intelligence. All the 

 actions performed in tlie circus are done in this 

 way; the spoken order is given in order that it 

 should be heard by the public and the horse is 

 made to carry out that order by a certain signal. 

 The horse is taught to perform many actions, 

 but separately on different signals, and after^vards 

 he is made to perform a complex action, i. e. to 

 perform several simple actions one after the other, 

 so as to represent a reasoned process. A handker- 

 chief is hidaen under a heap of sand at a spot in 

 the circus over which the horse will be made to 

 pass. He is ordered to look for it and bring it and 

 he is made to go at a walk to the spot where it 

 is hidden. Having arrived at one step from the 

 heap of sand among which the handkerchief is 

 hidden the circus master makes the sign to stop 

 and the horse stops ; by another sign he tells him 

 to paw the ground, and being at the right distance 

 from the heap, the heap is destroyed and the 

 handkerchief is found. By another sign he tells 



