e possibility of
transmission of thought in certain cases (e.g. when Lola is tired
or is unwilling to "work" any more). According to her it would be a
question of a line of least resistance, along which the "work" of
the animal becomes more easy. Hence arises the necessity, as she
maintains, for the investigator to be very careful of the danger of
falsified results and to _abstain with this object from any
intentional thought_. But these are the very conditions which
"mediums" impose on investigators, and if these conditions are not
observed, mediumistic seances seem only to be successful with
difficulty. Therefore, in trying to resist the danger of telepathic
falsification, and without indeed being aware of the resulting
consequences, Lola's mistress may have contributed to create the
very conditions most favourable to the development of mediumistic
action.

V. THE HYPOTHESIS OF CONCOMITANT PSYCHICAL AUTOMATISM

In various parts of her book Miss Kindermann emphasizes the fact that
after having given for some days "communications" of a certain kind, a
sort of tiredness or annoyance, that gets hold of Lola, completely
prevents the repetition of similar communications; but that repetition
can take place if some weeks of rest are allowed in the subject which
has provoked the tiredness.

In another place she mentions that, with the progress of Lola's
"education," the dog's attitude towards herself, and other persons
generally, became harder and more difficult, almost hostile (a fact
which I find confirmed by certain answers of Lola's referred to
elsewhere); just as if the canine consciousness as it gained
illumination began to understand the many wrongs done to it by man,
which formerly it knew nothing about.

Other observers have repeatedly stated that a capital fact in the story
of "thinking" animals is the necessity, which they regard as proved, of
a _progressive_ "education" directed at getting from the animal results
proportionate to the instruction received.

All these observations and several others of a similar nature would
seem to be arguments in favour of a presumed "intelligence" rather than
of an automatism in the animal. But they should be accepted _cum
grano_. They may indeed contain a good dose of involuntary suggestion,
active or passive. And again, it seems to me, for instance, a very
doubtful procedure to maintain, after a positive result has