Lola : $b or, The thought and speech of animals — John Shaqi
Lola : $b or, The thought and speech of animalsKindermann, Henny
Science
Lola : $b or, The thought and speech of animals
Kindermann, Henny
Animal intelligence; Dogs -- Folklore
I then said: "To-day is Tuesday; now remember the days carefully:
to-morrow, and the day after to-morrow--and the next you must always
tell me the name of the day on which I ask." I then dropped the
subject, and tested her on the morrow: "What is to-day?" "Mitwoch!" I
next questioned her at random as to the weeks and the year, and all her
answers were correct. I was very surprised on this occasion at the
short time she had taken--in spite of the rapidity of so much of her
earlier work, and I began to feel a sense of certainty as to the
possibility of making greater demands on her. Hitherto Lola had always
been able to prove to those who have seen her at her performances that
she _can_ state the day of the week correctly, yet of late she has no
longer taken the same delight in doing so; it has become "a bore"--and
for this reason she is now only asked two or three times a month. Four
days after she had learnt this accomplishment I tackled the dates. At
first it was rather difficult to explain to her _why_ a year, which
was already divided into weeks, should be again sub-divided into
months--within which, moreover, the weeks could not be disposed of in
complete numbers. Once more I made out my chart, and wrote down
everything as I had done on previous occasions, but with divisions into
twelve parts. Then I wrote out the months and placed the number of days
after each, making the addition at the bottom of the chart come to 365.
I then explained to her that, besides being divided into weeks, the
year was also divided into months, so that each day of the year might
be more easily remembered. I told her that for instance--"this day was
Saturday; that it was in the month of March, and that to-day was the
13th of March." That "yesterday had been Friday, the 12th of March, and
that to-morrow would be the 14th," and so forth. Then I left my chart
on the floor again, and did not refer to the subject any more that day.
On Sunday Lola was seldom given anything to do so that the divisions of
the week should be firmly planted in her memory. Having, therefore,
removed the chart on Sunday, I asked her on Monday:
"How many months has the year?" Answer: "12."
"And what is the second month called?" "February."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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