In fact, out of six or seven stallions whom
Krall tried to initiate into the secrets of mathematics, he found
only two that appeared to him too poorly gifted for him to waste
time on their education. These were, I believe, two thoroughbreds
that were presented to him by the Grand-duke of Mecklenburg and
sent back by Krall to their sumptuous stables. In the four or
five others, taken at random as circumstances supplied them, he
met with aptitudes unequal, it is true, but easily developed and
giving the impression that they exist normally, latent and
inactive, at the bottom of every equine soul. From the
mathematical point of view, is the horse's subliminal
consciousness then superior to man's? Why not? His whole
subliminal being is probably superior to one, of greater range,
younger, fresher, more alive and less heavy, since it is not
incessantly attacked, coerced and humiliated by the intelligence
which gnaws at it, stifles it, cloaks it and relegates it to a
dark corner which neither light nor air can penetrate. His
subliminal consciousness is always present, always alert; ours is
never there, is asleep at the bottom of a deserted well and needs
exceptional operations, results and events before it can be drawn
from its slumber and its unremembered deeps. All this seems very
extraordinary; but, in any case, we are here in the midst of the
extraordinary; and this outlet is perhaps the least hazardous.
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