truction 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 responses 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_ instruction
was given.

This development would probably be as follows:--Mr. von Osten, as the
result of theoretical speculation or of a misinterpretation of the facts
of experience, having arrived at the conclusion that the horse possessed
extraordinary capacity, finally undertook to instruct a certain horse
for a period covering three years. This one having died, he, nothing
daunted, undertook the education of another one. What it was that
influenced this old teacher of mathematics to deprive humankind of the
benefit of his extraordinary pedagogical ability and love of teaching,
we do not know. It may be that he had had bitter experience in that
line, or again, mayhap the newness and tremendousness of this other task
stimulated him. His first problem must have been to arouse the interest
of the animal in this process of education. It was hardly to be believed
that Hans would eagerly cooeperate in a process which promised to yield
him no immediate benefit. The teacher sought to overcome this lack of
immediate interest by the means of rewards. To Hans the sweet carrot was
as toothsome a bite as candy is to the child. And since the horse was
furthermore kept on low rations on account of the relatively low amount
of physical exercise he took, the anticipation of the carrots was doubly
enticing.

The first thing that Mr. von Osten sought to teach the horse, according
to his own statement, was the significance of the names of colors and of
the spatial directions such as "up", "down", etc. In the case of
children there is a simple test by means of which we may discover if
they have put any content into these words. The test is: Do they,
themselves, use them correctly? Do they call the blue, blue, and the
red, red? Since the horse could not speak, his instructor had to give
him some means by which he could make himself understood. He taught
Hans to approach the colors and select the cloth of the color wanted. He
also taught him to make those movements of the head or body which
correspond with