It was not enough, however, simply to imagine the number desired. It was
furthermore necessary that the questioner be conscious of the moment
when the horse reached that number. Larger numbers (above 6) were
therefore, successful only when every single tap was inwardly counted to
the end. The manner of counting was indifferent. Thus I counted 6 as
follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and later: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then again:
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6. Finally I used the Greek letters and also nonsense
syllables. And in all cases I obtained six taps, the correct response.
If, however, I simply counted the taps without knowing when the desired
number was reached, the responses were always incorrect, e. g., I
counted
For No. 10: 10, 10, 10 continuously, Hans tapped 13,
" " 10: 1, 2, 3 to 10 " " 10,
" " 12: 12, 12, 12 continuously, " " 15,
" " 12: 1, 2, 3 to 12 " " 12.
In the case of smaller numbers, on the other hand, one often obtained
correct results without counting. In this I am borne out by Mr.
Schillings. It was merely necessary to image vividly the number 3, or 4,
or even the name of a week-day or of a month without the number which
would indicate it. In the last of these cases the number corresponding
to the day or the month (e. g. 3 for Tuesday, 5 for May, etc.), though
not consciously presented, still evidently lay at hand in the
subconscious. To use a popular expression, I usually had a "feeling"
when Hans had arrived at the right number.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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