w many cloths there might be, or how closely they might
be placed, it was always possible to indicate either end of the row, for
in that case one had merely to turn to the extreme left or the extreme
right, and might even turn beyond the row. Hans seldom failed in these
cases, whereas he made many errors when cloths or placards within the
series were wanted.

To turn from the nature and number of Hans's errors, to their
distribution,--observation proved the hypothesis that the nearer two
cloths lay together, the greater was the chance of their being mistaken
one for the other. If we designate as "error 1" all those cases in which
Hans went to cloth II instead of to cloth I, cloth III instead of cloth
II, to V instead of IV, etc., and as "error 2" when he mistook III for
I, IV for II, in fine, whenever he went two places too far to the right
or left, and as "error 3" whenever he went three places too far to
either side of the cloth desired, we find the following grouping of
errors:

With Mr. von Osten, a total of 63 errors:
73% "error 1"
21% "error 2"
4% "error 3"
1% "error 4"
1% "error 5"

With Mr. Pfungst, a total of 64 errors:
68% "error 1"
20% "error 2"
11% "error 3"
1% "error 4"
0% "error 5".

The most frequently recurring error, therefore, was the one in which the
horse, instead of going to the cloth desired, approached the one
immediately adjacent. On page 79 I said that Hans's errors were without
system, but only in so far as it was impossible to explain them on a
basis of the colors which seemingly were mistaken one for the other. A
part of a series in which Mr. von Osten acted as questioner may serve as
an illustration. The order given is that of the experimental series as
it occurred. Five colored cloths were used.

Color of the cloth
asked for: blue, brown, brown, brown, brown, brown, green, green.
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brought: orange, orange, green, green, yellow, green, blue, orange.

Place of cloth
asked for: V II II II II II III III
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