The semi-weekly messenger., 1904-10-07
n Reasoning Horse.

Hardly day passes but the newSpa
pers have somthing to say of the Won
derful mental performances of clever
Hans" der kluge Hans" as Herr vol
Osten's stallion is called. Indeed, some
wordy controversies have been waged
over him. Some hold that he actually
reasons; others skeptically assert tina,
his intelligence is simply the result of
ingeniously concealed trickery on the
part of his trainers. An investigation
conducted by scientists, however, would
seem to indicate that the horse is real
ly what his owner claims him to be,
an intelligent four-footed animal, ca
pab!e of making simple arithmetical
calculations, and even reformation.
DR.. Heinroth of the Berlin Geological,
has this to say Of Hans wonderful
feats in a recent number of the Illus
trirte Zeitung:
For many years Herr Won -OsteE.
who was at one time tutor of mathfe-
matics. has made it his task to deter
mine the intellectual possibilities of the
horse. His first stallion, with whom
he succeeded in doing remarkable
things, died at the end of eight years
Hans, his second acquisition has been
under his care for four years. Won Os-
ten has no desire to sell the horse or
to display him for money in public. He
is instructing him in the interest of
science alone.
In my presence Won Osten asked tn ,
horse to add such sums as plus and
plus 3. The horse indicated the cor
rect answers by stamping with his
right fore foot. 1t is to be remarked
that during the calculations Won Os-
ten feeds Hans with carrots. Ven Cs-
ten declares that without the carrots
the horse would refuse to work. Hans
Pr hn Of
This, after all, is not very strange; for
as Won Osten puts it, carrots are TO
Hans simply what honors, titles, rank
and money are to men.
Il asked, What are the muitiples of
12?' The answer came almost imme-
dlately. Sums such as 72 plus IA are
correctly given. The actual words Cin
Germany What is the difference be
tween 43 and 6?' were read, and thA
answer Immediately paved. No num-
erals appeared on the blackboard.
Surely this is more than the trickery
of training. 1t should here be ment on
ed that questions can be put by any
bystander Hans is able to convert
| common fractions into decimal fract-
tlons. He can also tell time by thu
clock. If he is asked 1t is now forty
| minutes after twelve; how manw min
! utes will elapse before one O'Clock? he
Immediately answers with twenty
strokes of his hoof. These are Simply
a few among a great number of uues.
tiOnS that were put.
Hans knows the coin of the realm
| and the value of playing cards King,
| queen, ace. and the like are differea
| tiated by the hoof He picked out 2
badly worn German ifty-pfennig piece
| from several coins. From a number OF
pieces of colored cloth laid upon the
ground he will select any color he IS
| ordered to choose. is it grean?' you
| ask. Five strokes of the hoof is the
| reply and the fifth cloth Proves to be
| green. The colors may be changed in
| any manner; still the horse will pick
| out the correct one"
| DR.. Heinroth concludes his article by
| stating that he is quite convinced OF
the impossibiity Of any deception. H.
mas questioned the horse in his stall in
| the absence of his owner, ard he mas
| received answers as clear cut ana as
precise as those given in the presence
1 of Won OSten.-Scientific mo, ICON