In the conference which followed, Mr. Busch again declared that he had noticed no trace of a sign; he maintained that, in the selecting of colored cloths (especially when they were placed so closely together) and in the approach toward a person, there was no possibility whatever that some trick was being used.
During the session of September 12th, Mr. von Osten agreed to two sets of experiments.
1. Another man was to put the question to the horse. Mr. von Osten himself was to stand, back to back to the questioner and to bend forward, so that he was effectually hidden from the horse's view, yet could, by means of occasional calls, make his presence known to the animal. The assumption was that it would be conducive to success if the horse knew that the master was present and was awaiting the answer, and yet at the same time the possibility of receiving a sign was obviated.
2. Another man in Mr. von Osten's absence was to ask the horse to tap a certain number. Then the questioner was to leave, and Mr. von Osten, returning, was to ask the horse to perform some arithmetical process with the number which was thus unknown to the master. Mr. von Osten said that he thought that this method was somewhat risky, since the horse would be aware that he, Mr. von Osten, did not know the number, and might therefore be in a humor to play some prank.
The questions of the first sort were answered with but very few errors. Mr. Hahn and Count zu Castell asked simple questions in arithmetic. When Mr. von Osten withdrew into the stable, the count put several other problems, among them the counting of persons and of windows, all of which were solved correctly.
Between the first and second series of tests the following experiments were interpolated. The names of six members of the commission were written upon six slates respectively, which were then suspended from a string. Mr. von Osten pointed to one of the men and asked: "On which of the slates is this gentleman's name to be found?" The correct number was tapped in every case. The command to approach the slate in question was also obeyed as a rule, although this was not as uniformly successful as tapping.
In the conference which followed, Mr. Busch declared that the feats appeared inconceivable to him; and again none of the men had noted anything in the way of signs.
