But we must be careful not to confuse non-voluntary movement and lack of
knowledge of the movement. And again we must distinguish between
knowledge of the grosser and the finer signals. Mr. von Osten was aware
of the grosser movements, and talked quite freely concerning them, but
in so doing, showed that he was quite unaware of their true function. He
undertook to show us what we already knew--that, when he remained
standing perfectly erect, he could elicit no sort of response from Hans.
Furthermore, that whenever he continued to bend forward, Hans would
always respond incorrectly and with very high numbers. He knew, also,
that Hans was distracted in his operations every time the questioner
resumed the erect posture while the tapping was in progress. This he
demonstrated to us on one occasion in the following manner. He said to
Hans: "You are to count to 7; I will stand erect at 5". He repeated the
test five times, and each time Hans stopped tapping when the master
raised his body. Several such tests resulted in the same way. Mr. von
Osten, however, believed this to be a caprice of the horse and at first
declared that he would yet be able to eliminate it, but later became
resigned to it as an irremediable evil. Mr. von Osten was also aware
that the questioner ought not move while the horse was approaching a
colored cloth, and cautioned me in regard to it, though I had already
noted as much. And finally, he also knew what influence his calls had
while the horse was selecting the cloth, and he told me that it was of
great assistance to Hans to be admonished frequently, since thus his
attention was brought to bear upon the proper cloth. Yet, when we
requested Mr. von Osten to desist calling, since he was thereby
influencing the horse in the choice of the cloth, he answered: "Why
that's just what I wish to do!"--But though the statement that he was
aware of the nature of these grosser signs is thus seen to be true, it
by no means necessarily implies that he had purposely trained the animal
to respond to them. In these observations of his he had builded better
than he knew--he evidently had no notion of their scientific
significance. But the same thing might happen to those who were supposed
to be somewhat less naive, as is shown by the experience of Mr.
Schillings, who quite unconsciously, for many months had been giving not
only the finer, but also the grosser signs, and never guessed the true
nature of affairs until I explained it to him. Nor was it an easy matter
for me to get at the facts involved in the process, although it now all
appears so very simple.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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