Chapter III: Part 3

I showed this list of written commands to Mr. Sigsbee, but
instead of following my instructions he urged me to give them
myself. It is still a source of surprise to me that this horse,
while blindfolded and with no directive cues from his master
(Mr. Sigsbee stood beside me and neither moved nor spoke),
responded appropriately to these commands. It was necessary for
me to repeat only one command—the last one.

7. At my direction Mr. Sigsbee tied the white strip of cloth to
the blindfolded horse’s left hind leg, and the red cloth to his
right foreleg. At the end of this performance he cautioned
Captain again and again not to forget that the “white rag is on
your hind leg—here (patting the left hind leg), and the red rag
is on your foreleg.” After much patting of both legs and many
warnings against forgetting, Mr. Sigsbee withdrew and allowed me
to decide upon the command. I called for the red strip, and
Captain obeyed without displaying the least hesitation. It will
be remembered that on a previous occasion he found the red strip
on his hind leg.

8. The blindfold was now removed, and was not reapplied. Correct
responses were obtained to the commands, “Bring me a silver
dollar” and “Bring me a quarter.” Mr. Sigsbee stood where it was
impossible for him to direct Captain’s choice by pointing with
eyes, facial muscles or body.

9. I arranged the numerals in the number rack in the following
order: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0. Mr. Sigsbee stood behind
the horse and gave the following command:

“How many people are there in the front row?”

Mrs. Hamilton was the only “audience” for the performance, and
sat in the front row from the moment when Captain was brought
upon the stage. The horse responded to the command by advancing
to the railing over the footlights, extending his head and neck
far forward and examining the front row of seats. He followed
this by backing vigorously and pulling number “1” from the rack.
In a flash of inspiration I asked, “How many people are there in
the second row?” Captain walked forward again, looked into the
second row and shook his head. I am glad that I have Mrs.
Hamilton and my note book to remind me that this occurred when I
was wide awake and in a very critical frame of mind. Mr. Sigsbee
was standing to my left and the horse was to my right and
several feet in front of us when this occurred. I expressed my
unwillingness to believe my own senses, and Mr. Sigsbee quite
seriously expressed the opinion that the horse had been
influenced by the master’s mind to shake his head.

10. I eliminated Mr. Sigsbee by placing him where I could keep
my eye on him, but where he was outside the horse’s field of
vision. Then I commanded Captain to bring me number “6” from the
rack. He obeyed and followed this by bringing me “4,” “9,” and
“7.”

11. I exchanged “1” and “4” and commanded Captain to tell me how
many people were in the front row. He brought me number “1.”

12. Mr. Sigsbee, at my direction, gave Captain the number,
“30,724.” The numbers in the rack were in the unfamiliar order,
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0.” By obstructing Captain’s view of
his master I was able to eliminate the possibility of directing
gaze-cues from master to horse. Long experience with my
quadruple choice method has enabled me to control the movements
of my ocular muscles, and to depend a good deal on peripheral
vision, so that I am sure that I did not involuntarily direct
the horse during this test.

Captain promptly pulled “3” from the rack, pulled “8” part way
out and let go before he had fully withdrawn it, then withdrew
“0,” “7,” “2,” and “4” in rapid succession.

13. I put “4,” “1,” and “8” on the floor, sent Mr. Sigsbee to
the rear of the stage and gave the following commands:

“Two times nine.”

“Seven times twelve.”

“Nine times nine.”

The horse took up “1” and “8” in the response to the first
command, and dropped them. I arranged the three numbers in the
same order in which they lay on the floor before the first
command was given (“4” was at the left end, “1” in the middle
and “8” at the right end.) The second command was given, and
answered correctly, without hesitation. I now reversed the
positions of “4” and “8” and gave the third command, which was
also answered correctly.

14. After I had rearranged the colored strips on the color rack
so that black and white were near the middle (it will be
remembered that they were end strips during the public
performance), directed Mr. Sigsbee to command Captain to match
Mrs. Hamilton’s garments.

Captain went as far forward on the stage as he could go, craned
his neck forward, and closely scrutinized Mrs. Hamilton. At the
command, “Match the color of the lady’s hat” (Mr. Sigsbee gave
these commands), Captain went to the color rack, which was close
to and near the middle of the right wing, and took the black
strip in his teeth. (Correct.) His master stood behind him,
facing Mrs. Hamilton, who sat in the first row as “audience.”
Following this the horse matched the white waist, tan gloves and
black pocketbook.

I now engaged Mr. Sigsbee in a conversation as to how he had
trained his horse to match colors, when Mrs. Hamilton called to
Captain, “Can you match this?” Captain nodded his head and came
up to the rack and took the yellow strip in his teeth. Neither
Mr. Sigsbee nor I saw the pencil, and even when Mrs. Hamilton
told us that it was a pencil I could not tell its colors from
where Mr. Sigsbee and I stood, since the audience room was dimly
lighted. On our way to the exposition that morning Mrs. Hamilton
and I jested about my pencil-stealing proclivities, and I had
reminded her that I had returned her red-white-and-blue pencil.
This accounts for the certainty with which I declared that
Captain had taken the wrong color until Mrs. Hamilton showed me
that her pencil was really a yellow one.

Captain had grown friendly toward me, and as he stood facing me,
apparently inviting attention, I said, “Match my necktie” and
pointed to my red tie. He promptly pulled the red strip from the
rack. Mr. Sigsbee was definitely behind Captain when this
occurred.

Although my examination of Captain was too brief to justify me
in presenting this as more than a preliminary report, there are
a few tentative conclusions which I have drawn from it, and
which I wish to present for the consideration of persons who may
be interested in the training feats of men like von Osten,
Krall, and Sigsbee.

1. The inquiring liveliness of Captain’s ears and the freedom
with which Mr. Sigsbee employs verbal directions when the horse
is tired and inattentive suggests the possibility that this
animal may receive auditory cues that are given involuntarily by
his master. It is not only conceivable but even likely that
Captain is sensitive to changes in his master’s respiratory
sounds. A spasmodic inspiration, a faint sigh or a sudden
quickening of respiration might easily serve as cues for
Captain. One need only translate Rendlich’s and Pfungst’s
explanation of Hans’ behavior from visual into auditory terms to
arrive at a fairly satisfying guess as to how it is possible for
Captain to perform his wonderful feats.

2. My observations, although incomplete and inconclusive in many
respects, have convinced me that Captain can give correct
answers in entire independence of directive visual stimuli.
There was no trickery about his blindfold: Captain wore a
leather mask which so well excluded the light that he had to be
led from place to place on the stage. Even when he was not
blindfolded, and seemed to be keen to understand and to obey
them correctly, he attended only with his ears.

3. I am convinced that Mr. Sigsbee is sincere in his belief that
Captain is capable of abstract thought, and that he resorts to
no trickery in his public performances. It is also gratifying to
know that he is of the hard-headed type to whom a scientifically
established explanation would be acceptable, even though it
might run counter to his own presuppositions. If it proves to be
the case that his horse is accessible to stimuli to which human
ears are obtuse, and that master as well as public has been
literally “taken in” by horse-cleverness the humorous aspect of
the situation will appeal to him. From a purely commercial
standpoint he need have no fear as to the “show” value of a
horse which can beat a crafty old trainer at his own game by
training the master to give such exquisitely delicate cues that
the master himself is not aware of giving them. It is not
surprising that Mr. Sigsbee had to fall back upon telepathic
explanations.

CAPTAIN’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

Prayer assumes two forms, the one of petition that blessings may be bestowed upon the petitioner, the other of thanksgiving for the blessings so bestowed. Several years ago a “Horse’s Prayer” was published in the newspapers. It was a prayer of petition. But—presupposing the possession by the horse of intelligence and power to formulate prayer—Captain has never had to ask for most of the things set forth in this prayer. His kind master has freely accorded them to him, so Captain’s prayer is one of thankfulness. But every owner of a horse can convert this prayer into one of petition by applying it to his own horse and seeing whether he is treating his animal as Captain is being treated:

=My Dear Master, I thank thee for all thy goodness to me all the
days of my life. Thou hast given me good, clean, nutritious
food, plenty of water, perfect shelter, clean dry bedding, and a
stall wide enough for me to lie down in with comfort. Every day
my hair and skin have been brushed and cleaned, my nostrils
washed out, and my mane and tail kept free from burrs, tangles
and dirt.=

=You and the men you have employed to attend me have always been
kind to me. You have talked gently to, and not shouted at, me.
You have soothed me many times by the kind and assuring tones of
your voice. When I have been nervous and afraid, instead of
shouting at me, or whipping me, your gentle words have quieted
and encouraged me. You have petted and caressed me and made me
feel the joy of serving you because I love you. While you have
been firm with me and made me do my work, you have never
demanded more than I was able to give. You have never jerked my
reins, and thus made my mouth sore, or cruelly whipped me as I
have seen drivers do when their horses were pulling heavy loads
up hill. You have always endeavored to explain what you have
wanted me to do, and have not whipped, kicked, beaten, or cursed
me when I did not understand. You have been kind in teaching me,
gentle in bearing with my ignorance and mistakes, and patient
when I have been slow to learn. When I did not obey you
instantly, you have looked over my harness, my bridle, or my
hoofs to see that nothing was amiss.=

=You have never checked up my head so that my neck was stiff and
unable to move with freedom, and you have never cursed me with
blinders that rubbed my eyelashes, were too close to my eyes,
and that prevented me from looking behind me, as the great
Creator intended I should do.=

=You have never overloaded, or overworked me; never hitched me
where water could drop on me, or where I had to stand too long
in the wet, and if it was cold weather you have always covered
me with a blanket. My feet have always been well shod; you have
always examined my teeth to see that they were kept in good
condition, and never allowed “fox tails” to pierce my gums and
make my mouth sore. You have never been so wicked and cruel as
to cut away my tail so that I could not defend myself from flies
and mosquitoes, and at night or day time, you have never tied my
head up so tightly that it was in an unnatural position and
prevented me from moving it easily, or lying down to sleep.=

=You have always seen that I had plenty of clean and cool water
to drink, day and night, and you have watched me with care so
that I should not get sick. While I love the warm sun you have
not tied me where, when it was very hot, I could get no shelter.
In winter time you have never allowed a frosty bit to be put in
my mouth.=

=And though I am still young and healthy and apparently not
likely to become feeble and useless for many years to come, the
kindness you have already shown me assures me that when I do
lose my strength and ability you will not turn me out into some
poor pasture where I may starve or freeze, or sell me to some
human brute who will whip and torture me to get the last
fragment of work out of me, while he slowly starves me to death
with poor and insufficient food. If it is impossible to put me
where I shall have proper food and shelter I know you will
mercifully, kindly, and swiftly take my life, and thus, even in
the hour of death, I shall thank you with my whole heart.=

=And, though I am a horse, I am sure you have remembered that
God is my Father and Creator as well as yours, or I should not
be here, and that His Son said that His Heavenly Father cared
even for the sparrows, two of which were sold for a farthing,
and that He himself ever sanctified a stable by the fact that He
was born in one and cradled in the manger at Bethlehem. So, In
His Name, I give you thanks for all your kindness to me,
recalling to your memory His words that “inasmuch as ye have
done it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it
unto Me.”=

=—Amen.=

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected.

Inconsistencies in punctuation have been maintained.

Some illustrations moved to facilitate page layout.

A cover was created for this eBook.

[The end of _The Story of Captain: The Horse with the Human Brain_, by George Wharton James.]

End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of Captain, by George Wharton James