ANIMAL MYSTERY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 68, 17 September 1930, Page 4

ANIMAL MYSTERY

.pAI£ULATING HORSES

THE ELBERFELD GASE

m&iBbEY) SCIENTISTS

Do animals reason i Only people who j have never kept intelligent' dogs reply carelessly that what passes for thinking is nothing but animal instinct. Most people who have intelligent pets have witnessed some displays of what seems like "thinking things out," but (here has Iwn nothing so far to equal Ike marvellous powers developed in the Elberfeld horses. These horses learned to do arithmetic. We have, all seen performing- horses vt circuses that have been 'taught certain tricks. But it was until the year 1890 that a Dutch horso breeder, ilerr Van Osten, observing that one of his horses called Hans, showed signs of un- ' usual intelligence, began to teach the animal as if it were a child. . This was the beginning of a movement by 'psychologists in all parts 01 the civilised world to make a serious study of the' intelligence of the horse and dog,, and t.o a lesser degree of the. chimpanzee. " , , Within a short time "V an Osten had taught Hans to add and subtract the home giviJig its answers by hoof taps. Hans's fame soon spi'ead all over Germany. Professors, veterinary surgeons, heads of zoological gardens, and cavalry officers poured into Blberfeld, and a commission of inquiry was instituted. DOCTORS' TESTS. Celebrated doctors drew up a report t.o the eft'eet.that Hans could accomplish simple subtraction, multiplication, and division, and also answer questions by jneans of hoof taps,'the number of taps wjinoiding with previously selected letters of the: alphabet: The doctors all declared there could feve been bo trickery; since the same were obtainable whether Van Osten. Tras present or notj but at the same time they admitted that the horse could only perform these wonders of memory and intelligence when those present knew the results of the sums beforehand, or the answers to, the questftons* ' In order to flna ; some rational explanation of these astonishing facts, Herr Kraill, a rich merchant of Elberfeld (Germany), who was greatly interested itt the experiments, purchased Hans, and a little later bought two yonng Arabian horses called Muhammed and Zarif. He employed the same method of training.them as Van Osten had used, teaching them as he would a ela«s of kindergarten children, intelligently and affectionately. Within a short time he obtained the moßt surprising results, and became thoroughly convinced that horses are really "thinking" animals. He found -that; Hans 'could give answers equally correctly in the dark and in daylight 1 ia the case of Muhammed and Zarif the lessons lasted from one to one and a half hours daily, the horses bemg "taught to tap units with one foot and tens with the other. Thirteen days after his first lesson Muhammed correctly solved a series of additions, such-as one plus five equals sii, two plus four equals six, and even subtractions such as eight minus three agnate five; Later the animal accomplished'simple multiplication and division "of single .figures, and some few days "a'fterwartfs' passed on to calculations involving fractions. Some seven 'inonths.froirt the .time ho,started:'learnr i%g-:Muhammed,--'was , able. to..extract -°«&npi&- sqoare- an& isube" roots!- - Meanwhile he had learned to read, spelling <rat the words by tapping with his hoof the number, corresponding to the letter indicated. ' •. -, ■',' . ' In the same way, Zariffi was also able *p spell' out words which he had never Keen written.', . .■",'■;'; , ■ : HOOT TAP SIGNAL, It was noticed, that. he combined the fetters phonetically' to coincide with the aibunds heard, arid often, 'suppressed, the ■vowel's, bnt would add them correctly when told to do so! Noticing that the horses often tapped •with their hoofs when no les3ons were Being given, Herr Kraill noted them, to see whether they meant anything in accordance with the conventional alphabet they had learned. . , He found .that such, was ''actually the. lease. One day, . having told Muhammed he ■ should lave some carrots, the lorse: of his own accord tapped out "funuf." for **£unf," or five;, and on another:occaeion he spelled out "John hfr gbn," (which:Ms-ownoir understood to mean, <'Johri hafe geben," or "(Let) John give (me) oats." These particulars are taken from'a lecture delivered by Dr. <le Vesme. ..-..'■■ These "Elberfeld horses" were visited by many scientists, who were satisii'id th,at there was no deceit or fraud. Herr Krall gave ;th em every opportunity to make what :tests tney wished. Some teats, however, indicated that other factors 'entered, into the problem, milking its solution vastly more com« plicated. '.-. •' : Professor Claparede, of the University of Geneva, examined the phenomenon more exhaustively than the others, and'the'results he obtained were fr<r the most part negative. Sometimes ita horsbs gave correct answers when thpir grooms were present, sometimes they,did not, and when he.was alone irith" them, none seemed able to give correctreplies. , Then,the celebrated author and playwright,. .Maurice Maeterlinck, tried what,he could do with them* alone or ■with their groom present, and in every instance' the answers given wore correct. ": .' -•_•'.■- TELEPATHY THEORY. Mow ; could this be accounted for? If it. be a question, of telepathic eonv nj.unieat.ion between the examiner and ;|he horse, it was thought that the solu}Hbo:r might be comparatively easy. But how can we account for those eases in which-the horses' replies were correct when neither the examiner nor any cue else present knew what the 'figures wore on the card which the horses were told to add, subtract, or *everse in their order. ■ With the outbreak of .the Great War Wie Elberfeld horses were conunandeer*«rl by the.German military authorities, jand suffered the same fate as thousands -of other unfortunate animals.