You are here
قراءة كتاب Lola; Or, The Thought and Speech of Animals
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
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 undertaken with Bertho were equally successful; Krall was, in fact, always eager and willing to submit every objection brought forward to investigation, evident though it was, that his own vast experience amply sufficed to tip the balance in his favour.
It would take us too long should we attempt to enter into any detailed discussion on this point. Krall's book, "Denkende Tiere" ("Thinking Animals")1, may be recommended as the best source for investigation for those desiring to know more on this subject.
It must in any case be admitted that the investigations undertaken by Krall have shed a flood of light on the problem of the capacity for thought latent in our higher animals, enabling him, as we have seen, to lay down—within certain limits—in how far and in what way the existence of this capability can be proved where the horse is concerned. Up to the commencement of the Great War these investigations were continued, a number of different horses being used for the purpose.
In the year 1912 I became acquainted with a new contribution towards the question of animal psychology in the person of a Mannheim dog called "Rolf."
The manner in which Rolf's gifts revealed themselves was disclosed in the columns of the "Muenchner Nachrichten" as follows:
"OUR DOG ROLF
"By Frau Paula Moekel (née von Moers, in Mannheim)
"Anyone possessing an intelligent dog of his own will probably occupy himself far more with it than he is wont to do with other animals. This has been the case with our Rolf, a two-year-old Airedale terrier, which has already attained to celebrity. It was accident that led to our discovery of his talent for doing sums correctly. Our children were sitting together at work on their home-lessons, and one of my little girls—seized with a fit of inattention—was unable to solve her very easy task, viz., 122 plus 2. At length, and after the child had stumbled repeatedly over this simple answer, my patience was at an end, and I punished her. Rolf, whose attachment to the children is quite touching, looked very sad, and he gazed at Frieda with his expressive eyes as though he was anxious to help her. Seeing this I exclaimed: 'Just see what eyes Rolf is making! It looks as if he knew what you do not!' No sooner had I said this than Rolf, who had been lying under my writing-table, got up and came to my side. In surprise I asked him: 'Well, Rolf, do you know what two plus two amounts to?' Whereupon the animal tapped my arm with his paw four times—we were all speechless! After a little while we asked him again—'5 plus 5?' Here, too, the correct answer was forthcoming, and thus on the first day did we question him up to a hundred, and with equal success. After that verbal instruction became my daily occupation with the dog, in the same way that one might teach an intelligent child, Rolf entering readily into everything, indeed, we seemed to notice that his studies gave him pleasure. By degrees he became able to solve his sums correctly in every form of arithmetic, finally even getting as far as to extract two and three roots.
"We soon noticed that Rolf could also recognize letters and numerals. He read his own name easily, for when anyone began to write it on the typewriter he instantly started wagging his tail with delight. Our greatest desire now was to devise some means of communication with him and I therefore began with the following simple explanation:
"'Rolf,' I said, 'if you could say yes and no, you would be able to talk to us; now, look here! when you want to say yes, give us your paw twice, and if no, then give it three times,' and I at once put this suggestion to an easy test, for I asked him if he would like to be spanked—and he returned a decided no! Then I asked him if he would like some cake, to which a prompt and joyful affirmative was given. I saw therefore that Rolf understood me, and upon this mutual basis I proceeded carefully to build. At length his alphabet came into being—he having, with the exception of one or two letters, put it together entirely by himself. It was constructed thus: I would ask him, for instance, 'Rolf, how many taps with your paw are you going to give me for a?' and he then gave me a number which I carefully noted down. To my inexpressible pleasure I found that Rolf never forgot the numbers he had given, though I, to this day, must have my notes to hand whenever Rolf wishes to tap out anything. It is also remarkable that on a nearer investigation of his "alphabet" it becomes evident that the letters Rolf requires least are made up of the highest numbers, whereas those to which he has constant recourse have their equivalents among the lower numbers. The letters q, v, x, Rolf never uses, as though he wished to prove to me that they are entirely useless and superfluous. Rolf can recognize any money that is shown him and counts the flowers in a bunch according to their colours and varieties. He can also differentiate the high and the deep tones on any instrument, and he is even capable of telling the number of tones struck in a chord. His memory is marvellous; he remembers names and numbers over quite a period of time, once he has heard them, and he is ready to do his tasks with any persons who are sympathetic to him should he know them well enough. It is, however, difficult to get him to work as long as anyone who is not sympathetic remains in the room. What he raps out is, of course, phonetically spelt—just according to how it sounds to him, and we have not attempted to worry him with orthography! His own original remarks are delightful."
The dog, Rolf, attained in the course of time to a higher level than did the horses. This may probably be explained by the fact that dogs are, as a rule, more continuously in the company of human beings, being also due to their superior intelligence. Rolf's mode of procedure consisted in a series of raps given with his fore-paws, similar to those given by the horses with their hoofs; but Rolf used the same paw for both decimals and units, so that we had from time to time to inquire after every number rapped out—'Is it a decimal or a unit?' Whereupon he would rap 'yes,' or 'no'—as the case might be. The numbers were then written down and the answers thus obtained.
Rolf's feats of arithmetic, like those performed by the horses, included finding the square root in the most difficult problems; yet it was in the matter of spelling answers that he excelled. Indeed, he seemed to command a particularly rich vocabulary, and applied the same with the greatest accuracy and continuity, even in long answers. These replies, when collected in their proper sequence should provide us with a wealth of insight into an animal's life of feeling. Such a collection is already extant, but has not yet been made public.
Many of the dog's answers, as well as innumerable debates about him have been published in the