ad used in the
instruction of the horse, and which was illustrated by actual
demonstrations. I cannot testify, of course, that Mr. von Osten really
did adhere to this method throughout the four years in which he tutored
the horse, but I will say that I have several good reasons for believing
that it was impossible for him to have trumped up this make-believe
scheme afterward, merely to mislead us. Among the reasons are the
following: He was always ready to give a detailed explanation of any
question which we might interpose; the written statements of Major von
Keller, who has known Mr. von Osten for a period of fifteen years; the
testimony of General Zobel, who became acquainted with the whole process
fully a year before any public exhibitions were given; the accounts
given by the tenants in Mr. von Osten's house, who for years saw the
process of instruction going on in the courtyard of the apartment
building,--according to their account his intercourse with the horse
was like that with a child at school,--he made much use of the apparatus
and never did they notice anything like an habituation to respond to
certain signals; and finally the appearance of the apparatus
itself--some of which could not be bought at second hand--was most
convincing.

The apparatus used for the work in arithmetic consisted mainly of a set
of large wooden pins, a set of smaller ones (such as are to be had in
toy-shops), a counting-machine, such as is commonly used in the schools,
a chart upon which were pasted the numbers from 1 to 100, and finally
the digits, cut large and in brass and suspended from a string. For the
work in reading Mr. von Osten used the chart shown in the frontispiece
of this book. Here we have the letters of the alphabet in small German
script with numbers written below which serve to indicate the row, and
what place in that row, the letters occupy. For tones, a small, child's
organ was used with the diatonic scale C^1 to C^2, and for instruction
in colors, a number of colored cloths were used.

The work in arithmetic began by placing a single wooden pin in front of
Hans and then commanding him: "Raise the foot!--One!" Here we must
assume that the horse had learned to respond to the command to raise the
foot during the preceding period, when tapping in general had been
taught. In order to get the horse to learn that he was to give only one
tap, Mr. von Osten tried to control the tapping by means of holding the
animal's