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THOUGHT CAPACITY IN ANIMALS

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It was in the year 1904 that the first experiments towards understanding an animal's ability to think were brought into public light. Wilhelm von Osten then introduced his stallion Hans II to all who seemed interested in the subject, and the most diametrically opposed opinions were soon rife with regard to the abilities of this horse, to which von Osten maintained he had succeeded in teaching both spelling and arithmetic.

The animal's mental activity was said to lie in a simple form of thinking, called into being and intensified by means of a certain amount of instruction. Von Osten, who had been a schoolmaster, had previously spent some fourteen years in testing the intelligence of two other horses before he ventured to make his experiences public, and the performances of these animals were not only remarkable, but of far-reaching importance.

Hans I, aged twelve, died in 1905. He had never appeared in public, since his abilities had been relatively modest. He had, nevertheless, been able to count up to five, as well as carry out quite a number of verbal instructions. It was Hans II, however, that convinced his master—as early as 1902—of his ability to comprehend a far greater range of the German alphabet (when written), as well as to recognize a certain number of colours.

Instances, denoting signs of evident reflection and memory, had led to Wilhelm von Osten turning his thoughts towards this work of animal tuition. Public opinion was divided; there were some who took the subject seriously and who were grateful to this innovator for thus opening a new path of inquiry; yet many were sceptical—and the scientific commission called together in 1904 to investigate the subject, finally knew no better than to heap their ridicule on the careful and patient labours of a lifetime. "Der kluge Hans" ("wise" or "clever Hans")—by that time already a public character—now evoked supercilious smiles and stood disgraced in the eyes of the majority. Only a few, capable of delving more deeply into the subject, continued to follow these performances with ever-increasing interest and amazement and kept their faith whole.

Von Osten—though now embittered and pathetically silent—quietly continued his experiments up to his death, which took place in 1909. At first he had gone about his work alone, but he was joined subsequently by Karl Krall, who then became known in connexion with this work for the first time.

Many were the attempts made in certain quarters of the Press to account for the facts of the case; the very simple means of procedure employed by von Osten were scouted and the whole thing proclaimed to be based upon trickery, influence, secret signs, an abnormal degree of training, and what not—anything and everything was seized upon in order to come into line with ordinary opinion.

Then, in the year 1905, Karl Krall, of Elberfeld, began his experiments with Hans II, encouraging, as a foundation for the furtherance of his theories, the abilities already developed in this horse, while devoting a more profound measure of insight to the entire problem.

Karl Krall, who lavished an untold amount of time and money on the question, has also raised it to an immeasurably higher plane. He has, indeed, placed a remarkable collection of carefully selected material at the service of the scientific world. With an unusual amount of devotion, backed by patience and a genuine affection for his charges, Karl Krall has carried on a work of investigation to which he assigns no narrow limits; pursuing his labours with a cheerful energy, fully convinced of the sacredness of his task.

Anyone who has come into contact with Krall must feel respect for this man, whatever doubts he may harbour as to the results obtained.

In 1908 Krall started work with two Arab stallions, Zarif and Mohammed. Both these animals learnt to count by means of rapping out the numbers with their hoofs on a board. One rap with the left fore-hoof always counted as "ten," while each rap with the right fore-hoof counted as "one" only. The number twenty-five was, therefore, composed of two left raps and five right ones. Spelling was similarly indicated by a system of raps meant to express separate letters of the alphabet. A pause followed after each number and the answers, being displayed to sight in the form of rows of numbers, it sufficed to place the letter thus indicated beneath its respective number in order to work out the reply. In the course of time these animals learnt the most varied forms of arithmetic, even to the extent of extracting the most difficult roots. They had, indeed, learnt to give answers which were, for the part, quite independent—thus supplying the most unexpected insight into their actual thinking and feeling.

They also learnt the divisions of time, while every kind of experiment was undertaken in order to test their reasoning capacity. All these attempts and the majority of results were of such a nature that it became quite impossible not to realize that further persistence along the same lines of inquiry was bound to lead to a confirmation of the assurances already given by Karl Krall with regard to his pupils' "scholarship." Many diverse opinions were heard, while the number of serious adherents to the cause as well as that of its opponents increased. Special instances to which objection had been taken on the score of supposed "influence," or of "signalling," were carefully investigated by Krall in order to clear up any implied doubts. For this purpose a blind horse, by name "Bertho," was taken in hand, proof being thus provided to confute the mythical "code of signals" supposed to exist between master and pupil. Other tests undertaken with Bertho were equally successful; Krall was, in fact, always eager and willing to submit every objection brought forward to investigation, evident though it was, that his own vast experience amply sufficed to tip the balance in his favour.

It would take us too long should we attempt to enter into any detailed discussion on this point. Krall's book, "Denkende Tiere" ("Thinking Animals")1, may be recommended as the best source for investigation for those desiring to know more on this subject.

It must in any case be admitted that the investigations undertaken by Krall have shed a flood of light on the problem of the capacity for thought latent in our higher animals, enabling him, as we have seen, to lay down—within certain limits—in how far and in what way the existence of this capability can be proved where the horse is concerned. Up to the commencement of the Great War these investigations were continued, a number of different horses being used for the purpose.

In the year 1912 I became acquainted with a new contribution towards the question of animal psychology in the person of a Mannheim dog called "Rolf."

The manner in which Rolf's gifts revealed themselves was disclosed in the columns of the "Muenchner Nachrichten" as follows:


"OUR DOG ROLF

"By Frau Paula Moekel (née von Moers, in Mannheim)

"Anyone possessing an intelligent dog of his own will probably occupy himself far more with it than he is wont to do with other animals. This has been the case with our Rolf, a two-year-old Airedale terrier, which has already attained to celebrity. It was accident that led to our discovery of his talent for doing sums correctly. Our children were sitting together at work on their home-lessons, and one of my little girls—seized with a fit of inattention—was unable to solve her very easy task, viz., 122 plus 2. At length, and after the child had stumbled repeatedly over this simple answer, my patience was at an end, and I punished her. Rolf, whose attachment to the children is quite touching, looked very sad, and he gazed at Frieda with his expressive eyes as though he was anxious to help her. Seeing this I exclaimed: 'Just see what eyes Rolf is making! It looks as if he knew what you do not!' No sooner had I said this than Rolf, who had been lying under my writing-table, got up and came to my side. In surprise I asked him: 'Well, Rolf, do you know what two plus two amounts to?' Whereupon the animal tapped my arm with his paw four times—we were all speechless! After a little while we asked him again—'5 plus 5?' Here, too, the correct answer was forthcoming, and thus on the first day did we question him up to a hundred, and with equal success. After that verbal instruction became my daily occupation with the dog, in the same way that one might teach an intelligent child, Rolf entering readily into everything, indeed, we seemed to notice that his studies gave him pleasure. By degrees he became able to solve his sums correctly in every form of arithmetic, finally even getting as far as to extract two and three roots.

"We soon noticed that Rolf could also recognize letters and numerals. He read his own name easily, for when anyone began to write it on the typewriter he instantly started wagging his tail with delight. Our greatest desire now was to devise some means of communication with him and I therefore began with the following simple explanation:

"'Rolf,' I said, 'if you could say yes and no, you would be able to talk to us; now, look here! when you want to say yes, give us your paw twice, and if no, then give it three times,' and I at once put this suggestion to an easy test, for I asked him if he would like to be spanked—and he returned a decided no! Then I asked him if he would like some cake, to which a prompt and joyful affirmative was given. I saw therefore that Rolf understood me, and upon this mutual basis I proceeded carefully to build. At length his alphabet came into being—he having, with the exception of one or two letters, put it together entirely by himself. It was constructed thus: I would ask him, for instance, 'Rolf, how many taps with your paw are you going to give me for a?' and he then gave me a number which I carefully noted down. To my inexpressible pleasure I found that Rolf never forgot the numbers he had given, though I, to this day, must have my notes to hand whenever Rolf wishes to tap out anything. It is also remarkable that on a nearer investigation of his "alphabet" it becomes evident that the letters Rolf requires least are made up of the highest numbers, whereas those to which he has constant recourse have their equivalents among the lower numbers. The letters q, v, x, Rolf never uses, as though he wished to prove to me that they are entirely useless and superfluous. Rolf can recognize any money that is shown him and counts the flowers in a bunch according to their colours and varieties. He can also differentiate the high and the deep tones on any instrument, and he is even capable of telling the number of tones struck in a chord. His memory is marvellous; he remembers names and numbers over quite a period of time, once he has heard them, and he is ready to do his tasks with any persons who are sympathetic to him should he know them well enough. It is, however, difficult to get him to work as long as anyone who is not sympathetic remains in the room. What he raps out is, of course, phonetically spelt—just according to how it sounds to him, and we have not attempted to worry him with orthography! His own original remarks are delightful."

The dog, Rolf, attained in the course of time to a higher level than did the horses. This may probably be explained by the fact that dogs are, as a rule, more continuously in the company of human beings, being also due to their superior intelligence. Rolf's mode of procedure consisted in a series of raps given with his fore-paws, similar to those given by the horses with their hoofs; but Rolf used the same paw for both decimals and units, so that we had from time to time to inquire after every number rapped out—'Is it a decimal or a unit?' Whereupon he would rap 'yes,' or 'no'—as the case might be. The numbers were then written down and the answers thus obtained.

Rolf's feats of arithmetic, like those performed by the horses, included finding the square root in the most difficult problems; yet it was in the matter of spelling answers that he excelled. Indeed, he seemed to command a particularly rich vocabulary, and applied the same with the greatest accuracy and continuity, even in long answers. These replies, when collected in their proper sequence should provide us with a wealth of insight into an animal's life of feeling. Such a collection is already extant, but has not yet been made public.

Many of the dog's answers, as well as innumerable debates about him have been published in the "Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Tierpsychologie"2 ("Communications of the Society for the Study of Animal Psychology"), while others may be found in the periodical "Animal Soul."3

Rolf has made frequent public appearances and been subjected to tests of several hours' duration. These have taken place both in the presence of his kind and gifted mistress and teacher, and also quite alone with his examiners. On every occasion of his appearance notes have been taken as to the procedures, and on one occasion these were even attested by a Notary. At such times, indeed, suggestions were not infrequently made which might be said to exceed every justifiable limit; tests were carried out prior to which the whole family had to vacate the house—carpets were taken up, in order to hunt for electric wires; window-shutters were closed; cupboards and premises searched, and sentinels posted—all this being tolerated by them with the utmost good-humour! And in spite of all this upheaval, Rolf was almost without exception ready with his replies! A fact that may well be set to his credit, when we consider how sensitive and capricious animals are by nature. Of his examiners, it may be said, that they covered themselves with confusion.

One public appearance brought him well-merited praise from a large circle of acquaintances. So excellently did he acquit himself on this occasion that I should like to place it on record.

"REPORT OF THE PUBLIC APPEARANCE OF THE SPELLING DOG ROLF

"By Professor H. F. Ziegler

"In order to collect subscriptions for the benefit of the Central Committee of War Charities, as also for the Society responsible for the dogs for Army Medical Service, Frau Dr. Moekel kindly consented to introduce her dog Rolf to the general public for the first time.

"The performance took place in the Hall of the Casino at Mannheim, on the 11th of May, 1914. Every seat in the Hall was taken.

"Professor Kraemer of Hohenheim opened the meeting; he dwelt on the usefulness of these dogs—trained to perform tasks in which their intelligence accounted for no small part. He alluded to the scientific importance of the new method of instruction by means of spelling—a method first brought forward in connexion with the 'Thinking Horses' belonging to Messrs. von Osten and K. Krall, and which had revealed hitherto unexpected aspects of the animal soul.

"He further pointed out the total absence of any intentional or unintentional signalling, an objection which has already been sufficiently disproved by the many singular and entirely spontaneous communications constantly made on such occasions. Finally, he emphasized that the investigations Frau Dr. Moekel had made with her dog had proved to be of immense value as contributions towards the study of animal psychology, being, in fact, of great scientific service.

"Frau Dr. Moekel was then wheeled on to the platform in her bath-chair, and Rolf seated himself by her side.

"In the first place a number of sums were set the dog which had been called out by the audience; they were as follows: (4 × 7 - 13) ÷ 3 = 5, 2 × 10 ÷ 4 = 5, 8 × 9 ÷ 12 = 6.

"When the problem 3√27 was given Rolf proclaimed the correct number '3,'—he immediately followed this, however, by spelling out: 'nid wurdsl' ('no more roots'), implying that he declined anything further to do with that form of reckoning; he had indeed, objected to 'roots' for some time past! He next proceeded to name the various persons he recognized in the assembly—the first being, 'dand, speisl basl' (Frau Dr. Speiser, aus Basel); 'glein' (a Herr Klein, whom he had not seen for two years); further, 'ogl lsr' (Herr Landsgerichtsrat Leser). When, however, he was asked by a gentleman sitting in the front row whether he knew him (the gentleman in question had sent him notes from time to time), he replied: 'lol nid wisn' (Lol doesn't know). (N.B. Rolf is in the habit of referring to himself as 'Lol.')

"In order to subject him to an unexpected test I had brought with me a box containing a 'may-bug' made of papier mâché, the inside of which was filled with biscuits. After Frau Dr. Moekel had retired from the platform I opened my box and showed it to Rolf. He pushed his nose into it, exhibiting marked interest and seemed impatient to communicate the matter to his mistress, therefore without more ado he spelt out: 'maigfr in sagdl, inn was dsm sn' (i.e. 'Maikafer in der Schachtel; innen was zu essen') (May-bug in box; inside something to eat), adding, presumably as an after-thought, 'nid gefressn' (nicht gefressen; didn't eat it!). Rolf had therefore recognised the biscuits inside the may-bug by their smell only—and was anxious that she should know that they hadn't been given him to eat! After this a gentleman in the audience asked permission to put a secret test. The object selected was shown to the dog in such a manner that his mistress had to turn aside so as not to see it. But Rolf had become obstinate and refused to name the thing, and he insisted on spelling out: 'nid, lol rgrd der wisd man': he appeared to be 'geärgert' by the 'wüste man' (worried, or vexed by the rough man)—and it may, indeed, have been that the dog sensed a certain distrust of his mistress, or that, as is often the case with other dogs, that he was reluctant to 'show off' at the request of an entire stranger. Another time, should a similar trial be contemplated, it would be wiser if the article to be named by the dog were—even if handed up by the person desirous of making the test—shown him by someone with whom he is familiar.4

"Gradually Rolf became tired and rapped out: 'lol bd' (i.e. Rolf bett = Rolf to bed). A pause was made during which some of Rolf's earlier communications were made public. One was his reply as to why dogs do not like cats;5 this ran: 'lol imr hd dsorn wn sid kdsl, freigt fon wgn graln. Lol hd lib sis dsi di nid dud grdsn lol, abr, andr hundl, di nid gnn ir.' ( = Lol is always angry when he sees cats, perhaps on account of their claws: Lol loves sweet Daisy, who doesn't scratch Lol—but other dogs who do not know her.)

"On 20 August, 1914, he rapped out a remark that referred to the war; it had, of course, been difficult to explain the nature of war to him; the only way in which it seemed at all possible to bring this to his understanding was by comparing it to the scuffling and quarrelling of dogs—on which he observed: 'lol grn (i.e. gern = likes to) raufn, mudr frbidn (i.e. Mutter verbieten = Mother forbids) abr franzos raufn mit deidsn (i.e. Deutschen), mudr soln frbidn, (i.e. Mutter soll es verbieten = Mother should forbid it), di nid dirfn (dürfen) raufe, is ganz wirsd fon di ( = They should not be allowed to quarrel—it is very rough of them!).

"When the tests were resumed, Frau Dr. Moekel asked Rolf: 'What was it the man called out in the street yesterday, when you were looking out of the window?' and the dog spelt out: 'egsdrablad 5 hundrd franzos un so weidr' ( = special edition 5 hundred French—and so on!). The laughter elicited by this statement appeared to offend Rolf, for he promptly spelt out the query: 'di lagn warum?' ( = They laugh—why?).

"After this he applied himself to counting the flowers in a bouquet, and he was asked to whom he would like to present it. He replied: "lib adolfin" ( = dear Adolphine), thus distinguishing a particular lady who was present—and he further added "gomn" (i.e. kommen = come), she had therefore to step forward and receive the bouquet in person.

"Little flags were distributed next, and Rolf was told to name the country each stood for. For the yellow and black colours he spelt out: "esdeig" (Austria), for the Turkish—'dirgig'; for the Baden flag: "baadin," while the Württemberg colours he regarded as German! On being shown the Bavarian flag he spelt: 'lib mudr sei fei farb!' (i.e. die feine Farbe der lieben Mutter = the brave colours of dear mother)—Frau Dr. Moekel being of Bavarian descent.

"At the close of the meeting Rolf was told to name certain melodies, and a gentleman present whistled the beginning of the song 'O, Deutschland hoch in Ehren'—but the dog did not at once recognize the song and spelt out—'nogmal!' (i.e. noch einmal = once more!). Then the entire song was whistled to him and he spelt: 'heldons sdurm gbraus' (i.e. Heldensturm-gebraus) and, as he liked to hear singing, he added: 'Wagd fon rein singe, bid' ( = Watch on the Rhine sing, please!). The same gentleman then obliged him by whistling the 'Wacht am Rhein,' but he was not quite content, for—as he subsequently observed, 'this was not singing' (dis nid singt).

"At the close of his tests Rolf was rewarded with a cake which he promptly recognised as 'basllegrl' (Basler Leckerle = a Specialité of Bâle).

"'The Heidelberger Zeitung' commented on the performance as follows:

"'The astonishment of the audience increased with every moment, while their delight and enthusiasm at the close of this remarkable and interesting evening found vent in a storm of applause.'

"Another journal, the 'Badische General Anzeige' wrote:

"'The evening's performance must have converted many who before had been sceptical.'"

Even as there are numerous horses capable of exercising similar abilities, so too, is Rolf not a solitary example among dogs of his kind to profit by instruction. Indeed, many of his descendants are receiving tuition under the guidance of different instructors, and are giving a good account of themselves.

I will here add Professor Ziegler's Report:

"NEW REPORTS CONCERNING THE CALCULATING AND SPELLING DOG6

"By Professor Ziegler

"The descendants of the dog Rolf that have been trained by Frau Dr. Moekel,7 are now full grown, and several of them have acquitted themselves with success. These are the bitch Ilse, the two males, Heinz and Harras, and the bitch Lola, and I here purpose to set down the latest information about these animals. It is of great importance that the various persons under whose care these dogs were trained should—though independently of each other—have made similar observations. All investigators have reported the same astonishing memory, this affording the foundation for the dogs' feats in reckoning and spelling.

"As these reports come from persons resident at different places, who neither know, nor are in communication with each other, we here have the surest proof there is no secret or trick involved in the matter."


"A. Report on the Bitch Ilse

"Concerning Ilse, of whom a clergyman is the owner, Dr. Oelhausen has already given us some details in earlier numbers of our 'Communications'.7 He now sends me the following, which he received from Frau Dr. Moekel in the summer of last year. The reverend gentleman had left Ilse for a few hours at Frau Dr. Moekel's—as he had often done before—while he went into town to make some purchases. On this particular occasion Frau Dr. Moekel noticed that Ilse looked particularly depressed, and her little daughter, Carla, being disturbed about the dog's woe-begone air, said: 'Mummy, Ilse must be in trouble! Only see how serious she is!' So Frau Dr. Moekel asked the dog: 'Ilse, are you really sorrowful?' To which Ilse responded: 'Ja, hr hib.' ( = yes, Master beating!). Frau Dr. Moekel: 'But Ilse, I am sure your master is kind to you; you are imagining!'

"Ilse: 'bd'.

"Frau Dr. Moekel: 'Bed? Ilse—have you a bed?'

"Ilse: 'Nein.'

"Frau Dr. Moekel: 'But where do you sleep?'

"Ilse: 'hols.'

"Frau Dr. Moekel: 'Ilse, you poor little dog! Have you to sleep on the wood behind the stove?'

"Ilse: 'Ja!'

"Frau Dr. Moekel: 'Then I'll tell you what to do, Ilse: you just get up on to your master's bed—he needn't have it all to himself.'

"Frau Dr. Moekel said later that she had not made this suggestion seriously, that, in fact, she had said it more to quiet Carla, and had soon forgotten all about it. But the next day the dog's master called again and complained of Ilse, saying: 'What do you think of this? Ilse is really getting unbearable—the beast got into my bed last night: there she was this morning—stretched her whole length!' And Frau Dr. Moekel had now to confess that she herself had instigated this lapse on Ilse's part.

"To this account Dr. Oelhausen has added: 'This statement has several points of interest. There is firstly the complaint about 'beatings,' and secondly the comparison drawn between her own nocturnal quarters and those of Rolf. It may also be noticed that she was very sparing of her words, using, indeed, no more than the merest 'essentials'! Then, observe the careful way in which she followed 'Mother's' advice—only getting into her master's bed after he was well asleep!'

"Another incident, the details of which were supplied to him by Ilse's master, has also been communicated to us by Dr. Oelhausen:

"'The clergyman had taken several of his village school-children for a walk, during the course of which he asked them the names of the various trees. Among these was one of which no child could tell the name. Ilse, his constant companion, was also of the party, and she now pressed forward with such marked interest that her master put the question to her too. At this Ilse started rapping and spelt out the correct name—the tree was a larch. Her master was greatly surprised at this, suggested, however, that it was probably less a matter of knowledge than of thought-transference, yet Dr. Oelhausen queries whether the dog might not have heard the name mentioned on some previous outing, and her master admits that this might have been the case.'

"We know the unfaltering tenacity with which the Mannheim dog, Rolf, remembers names, so that it would seem more reasonable to ascribe the spelling of the name to her excellent memory than to thought-transference, which would be quite as inexplicable and incomprehensible.

"To the above I may add one more incident touching Ilse, which I received from Frau Dr. Moekel on 25 May, 1915:

"'Ilse will prove valuable to us, for—though I have given her no instruction—her master has achieved the very same results with her as I have with Rolf.8 This is what took place the other day: My dear husband went to see our reverend friend and having arrived too early for Divine Service, seated himself on a high stone in the neighbourhood of the little church and not far from the parsonage. Our friend saw my husband and came out, accompanied by Ilse, to fetch him into the house. Ilse jumped up against my husband, wagged her tail, licked him—and showed so much exuberant affection that her master was quite surprised, and asked her:

"'Do you know this gentleman?' To which Ilse replied: 'No!' adding, as though as an after-thought—'Rolf!' She had evidently scented Rolf (who is her father and of whom she is very fond) about my husband's clothes'"

"B. Report on the Dog Heinz

"A second dog, by name Heinz, who came into the possession of Mr. Justice Leser in Mannheim, has proved himself to be an excellent arithmetician, and this without ever having been worried with instruction. In the same way as Rolf he gives two raps for 'yes' and three for 'no,' while four express that he is 'tired.'

"Mr. Justice Leser reports:

"If I ask Heinz whether he will do arithmetic he invariably raps "2," even though sometimes accompanying his assent with a yawn. I am generally obliged to hold out the prospect of some reward as an inducement to do his sums. I should have preferred his rapping against some article one could hold in one's hand, or that he could be induced to "rap out" on a board setting forth the numbers, and which might be placed on the floor before him; but to neither of these alternatives will he agree, having since his earliest youth learnt to rap in the same way as Rolf does. He will, however, not only rap for me, but for any person he knows well, solving such problems as: 3 + 4 - 6, or √121 + 3, or 14/2 + 4, or 32, and he seldom makes a mistake, even when the sum he may be asked merely resembles the form of arithmetic he has learnt. But he generally gives up after two or three sums and is generally distracted. He can read the figures too, and generally gives a correct solution to sums which have been written down for him and which I myself have not read. Like Rolf, he only looks at the paper sideways. He reads very reluctantly. His memory is excellent; especially quick is he at recognizing those persons again who have at any time had to do with him.'

"When I was in Mannheim on 22 March, 1916, Mr. Justice Leser was kind enough to show me the dog. I put some problems to it verbally and was able to satisfy myself as to its abilities in the matter of arithmetic. Of those then put by me I still call to mind the following: '24 ÷ 3 - 3?' Answer: '5,' and '√10,000 - 87?' Answer: '13.'9

"C. Report on the Dog Harras

"The third dog, Harras, came into the possession of Fräulein Eva Hoffmann, of Schloss Berwartstein, near Bergzabern, and was instructed by her in spelling and arithmetic with excellent results. This lady sends the following report:

"'From the very beginning his gift for arithmetic was quite remarkable. It was enough to give him an idea of how to reckon, explaining to him the different forms of arithmetic, for the dog to learn to give the right answers to easy sums immediately.

"'Fractions, decimals, cubes and the easier forms of equation, have been set him by a stranger. With some coaching he was also able to master textual problems in this way, giving eager and glad response in the form of "yes" and "no" when it came to questioning him as to his having understood or not understood—liked or not liked the subject. He usually did his sums with evident pleasure and with amazing celerity. Spelling gave him more trouble. He could not even remember an alphabet he had himself put together, and one I invented for him he only memorized after going over it many times. He took no pleasure in putting words together and got tired very soon. Some of his original remarks are that he recognized Sunday by the "dress" I had on; also that he had dreamt of a "cow" (this after having seen one when we were out walking), and so on.

"'Remarkable is his love of truth; should he have done anything that deserves punishment, he approaches me with his head hanging down and a very dejected tail—replying to the question as to whether he deserves a whipping with a reluctant "yes," and to a further enquiry as to whether he is ashamed of himself, he responds with an emphatic "yes—yes—yes!"

"'But as is the case with children, example and precept are of far greater use than corporeal punishment, although this cannot be neglected altogether. The axiom that we evolve in accordance with the treatment meted out to us is as true in the case of an animal as it is with that of a human being, and the more this is recognized and laid to heart the shorter will be the martyrdom still inflicted upon the animal kingdom.'

"In the March of this year Fräulein Hoffmann was kind enough to communicate the following incident to me; it corroborates an earlier observation made by Frau Dr. Moekel (compare 'Communications of the Society for Animal Psychology,' 1914, p. 6, or 'The Soul of an Animal,' 1916, p. 81).

"'I was sitting in the garden reading, when I heard the sound of birds twittering over their food in a tree hard by. Harras watched them attentively for some time and I told him the names of the birds—they were jays and wood-peckers. The next morning he did not come up to my room a second time with the maid, although he can generally hardly contain himself until he has had his breakfast given him. At length, when he did appear, I asked him if he had seen the birds again, and he answered "yes"; then to my question as to their names he gave "her" and "spct" (i.e. "Häher" and "Specht" = jay and woodpecker).'"

"D. Report on the Dog Roland

"Little Roland, who received his first tuition from Frau Dr. Moekel, unfortunately came to an untimely end—owing to an accident.10 Concerning this, Frau Dr. Moekel wrote to me in March, 1915, as follows:

"'My dear little Roland—whom we called "Guckerl" ( = Peep-eyes), because of his wonderful eyes, has been run over by a motor-car. He suffered terribly for two days and died on 19 March. His death is not only a sorrow to me, but a loss to the interests of the cause we have at heart, for Roland had begun to make the most delightful remarks quite spontaneously. On the last evening before the accident, he came to me and—without having been questioned—rapped out: "Rolf ark bei (s) d arm roland" ( = Rolf has badly bitten poor Roland). I was not able at the time to translate his little utterance, and it was only after his death that I remembered my notes. Then, on putting them together it transpired that Roland had been bitten by Rolf because he had chased Daisy, our kitten.

"'Roland could recognize money, stamps and bank-notes; he could count flowers and bricks, and knew all the various colours and scents as well as count tones, recognize melodies and tell the time.'

"I have not added my report made with reference to Lola to the above, the object of my book being to make the reader acquainted with this dog."

Lola; Or, The Thought and Speech of Animals

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