animal never responded adequately unless he
himself firmly believed in the possibility of success. It is noteworthy
that the Count zu Castell, independently of Mr. Schillings, made the
same discovery. Mr. Schillings made his curious discovery--which he was
unable to interpret, but which aroused some suspicion--on the following
occasion. One day--whether accidentally or because his prejudice was
temporarily overcome--he commanded; "Dis deux!". Hans responded promptly
with 2 taps. He was greatly surprised and believed that Hans had gotten
hold of the French by hearing it spoken in his environment. Possibly he
understood also "trois" and "quatre"? He put the questions and received
correct responses. He asked again, "dix", "vingt", and so on to
"soixante". At "soixante-six" he became doubtful. Indeed, Hans failed
him. At "quatre-vingt", the game began again. "Cent", again, succeeded.
The old saying that "Faith will move mountains" was verified once
more.[U]

[Footnote U: It has been scientifically proven that a number of
supposed mystical phenomena, table-moving, table-rapping, and
divination by means of the rod, all are the result of involuntary
movements made unawares by those concerned, just as in the case of
this work with Hans. (We must of course except those not infrequent
instances in which the phenomena in question are purposely and
fraudulently simulated.) There is this difference, however, that
there the thing affected is a lifeless object,--the table or the
rod,--here it is a living organism, the horse; hence there the
immediate effect of the movement is physical work in the form of
energy expended in moving the table, here the movement becomes a
visual stimulus. A number of observations which I find in the
relevant literature, and which I shall introduce into this chapter,
may serve to show how close is the similarity between the two cases,
how much depends upon the questioner, and how little really upon the
instrument--whether table or horse--which is acted upon.

Two examples will suffice to illustrate the significance of belief
and of the concentrated attention that results from it. The first is
taken from the letters of Father P. Lebrun on the divining rod[26],
which appeared in 1696. An old woman once told a treasure-seeker
that she had always heard that a treasure was buried at a certain
place in the fields. The man, w