Lola - or, The Thought and Speech of Animals

Henny Kindermann, William [Contributor] Mackenzie, Agnes [Translator] Blake

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• Publié par: phuwyor
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 36
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lola, by Henny Kindermann This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Lola The Thought and Speech of Animals Author: Henny Kindermann Contributor: Dr. William Mackenzie Translator: Agnes Blake Release Date: June 23, 2008 [EBook #25887] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOLA *** Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) L or O L A The Thought and Speech of Animals BY HENNY KINDERMANN TRANSLATED BY AGNES BLAKE WITH A C HAPTER ON THINKING ANIMALS BY DR. WILLIAM MACKENZIE METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON First Published in this translation in 1922 PREFACE It is hoped that this little work may assist in the search along the dark path upon which many a poet and—in later times—many an investigator has set his feet. It would not be worthy of us, whom science and technical ability has raised to so high an intellectual position as explorers of Nature in every field—should we neglect anything however trivial, deeming it as beneath our notice. We know so much about all that lies around us: the manner in which the cells build our bodies; how the juices circulate within the plant. We feel Nature to be ensouled, to be a spiritual entity—and yet—it is only her corporeal life with which we are intimate. Therefore let us now turn our eyes to new horizons, so that the human spirit may be in a position to extend its search, doing so with knowledge and understanding. What is imperative is that we should investigate to what degree the higher animals have been dowered with sensibility, and to what extent this can be utilized: whether it can crystallize—so to speak—into what is known to us as thought. My own work of investigation was undertaken in a spirit entirely devoid of prejudice; and what I have so far discovered I now place in the hands of the reader, asking him to bring the same unbiased and objective attitude of mind to bear when reading these pages. It is my hope that they may arouse his interest and instil that broader attitude of thought which should lead to further investigation, since a question so serious and important does not permit of being lightly set aside. I have given a short preliminary account of earlier investigations undertaken in this field of research, before inviting the reader to accompany me along the path I myself pursued into this New Land. H ENNY KINDERMANN CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THOUGHT CAPACITY IN ANIMALS The Dogs: Rolf Ilse Heinz Harras Roland II. MY PREVIOUS ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE SUBJECT III. LOLA IV. BEGINNING THE TUITION V. CONTINUED TUITION VI. SENSE OF TIME VII. CALCULATING TIME VIII. SIGHT IX. HER PERFECT SENSE FOR SOUND X. SCENT XI. SENSITIVENESS OF THE SKIN XII. FORECASTING THE WEATHER XIII. ADVANCED ARITHMETIC XIV. WORKING WITH OTHER PERSONS XV. THE QUESTION OF POSSIBLE INFLUENCE XVI. ALTERATIONS AND MEMORY XVII. THE CONNEXION OF IDEAS XVIII. SPONTANEOUS REPLIES XIX. WRONG AND UNCERTAIN ANSWERS XX. MATTERS WHICH, SO FAR, ARE UNACCOUNTED FOR, OR UNEXPLAINED XXI. ALTERATIONS IN CHARACTER XXII. A VARIETY OF ANSWERS XXIII. ULSE'S FIRST INSTRUCTION XXIV. LAST WORDS CONCLUSION (BY PROFESSOR H. F. ZIEGLER) THINKING ANIMALS (BY DR. WILLIAM MACKENZIE) 1 5 15 18 20 22 23 30 35 43 54 59 63 70 74 79 84 89 94 97 102 110 113 116 120 122 126 144 149 152 157 In recording the remarks made and answers given by these dogs I have —wherever it seemed possible to do so without loss of a certain distinctive charm—inserted the English translation only ; here and there, however, where, for instance, the conversation between mistress and dog has turned on the spelling of a word it has been necessary to give the entire sentence in German. There are also some quaint remarks of which I have been loth to omit the original, these being sure to appeal to anyone acquainted with idiomatic German. THE TRANSLATOR LOLA THOUGHT CAPACITY IN ANIMALS 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