10 MEMOIRS NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [Vol.xv, 



and Yerkes, received assurance from the committee (National Committee for Mental Hygiene) 

 on furnishing hospital units for nervous and mental disorders to the United States Government 

 that this committee would finance to the extent of $2,500 the trial of the above methods 

 of psychological examining in various army and navy organizations — the work to be so planned 

 as to test thoroughly the reliability and serviceableness of the methods, and to supply materials 

 for their improvement, and for the development of satisfactory methods of scoring and reporting 

 data of examinations. 



This offer of assistance resulted in the prompt formulation of the following plan, which was 

 successfully carried out. 



"Five groups of three men each are to be organized for immediate work in four different mili- 

 tary establishments, each group to consist of a chief examiner and two assistants. The fifth 

 group to be organized for statistical work. 



"The four examining groups are to work for one month in naval stations, army re- 

 organization camps, or officers' training camps. It is proposed that approximately 1,000 men be 

 examined at each place by the group method and approximately 200 by the individual method; 

 further, that, so far as possible, the results of these examinations be correlated with industrial 

 and military records or histories. 



"This work is to begin as soon after July 15 as possible. Records for examinations are to be 

 shipped to the statistical unit in New York City as rapidly as possible, so that they may be scored 

 and the results evaluated and correlated with a view to determining the best methods of scoring 

 and desirable changes in methods of examining." 



PERSONNEL OF UNITS. 



Examining unit, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, Ind. : Chief examiner, G. M. Whipple, succeeded by T. H. 

 Haines; assistant examiners, J. E. Anderson, W. K. Layton. 



Examining unit, Camp Jackson, Nashville, Tenn. : Chief examiner E. K. Strong; assistant examiners, B. R. Simp- 

 son, D. G. Paterson. 



Examining unit, reorganization camp, Syracuse, X. Y. : Chief examiner, J. W. Hayes; assistant examiners, J. C. 

 Bell, W. S. Foster. 



Examining unit, naval training base No. 6, Brooklyn, N. Y. : Chief examiner, R. S. Woodworth ; assistant examiners, 

 N. J. Melville, G. C. Myers. 



Statistical unit: Statistician, E. L. Thorndike; assistants, A. S. Otis, L. L. Thurstone. 



The examining of approximately 4,000 soldiers in accordance with the plan described above 

 and the comparison of the results with officers' ratings of the men revealed a correlation of about 

 0.5, and in general justified the belief that the new methods would prove serviceable to the 

 Army. 



On July 20, after the adjournment of the committee on methods and as a direct result of its 

 work, a substitute plan for the psychological examining of recruits was forwarded to the Surgeon 

 General of the Army. This plan proposed the commissioning of six qualified experts, to be desig- 

 nated chief psychological examiners, each to be in charge of the work of a single camp, and 

 the appointing, under the Civil Service Commission, of 18 men as assistant psychological 

 examiners. It was pointed out that a list of available appointees had already been prepared. 

 Specific recommendations for apparatus and equipment and for the mode of procedure in ex- 

 amining were also made. It was further submitted "that all recruits, on the results of the 

 group examination, be tentatively classified as mentally (a) low, (6) high, (c) average, (d) irreg- 

 ular; and that as time permits the lowest 10 per cent, the highest 5 per cent, and irregular in- 

 dividuals shall be subjected to more searching individual examination." 



Early in August report of the trial of methods of psychological examinations in army and 

 navy stations was prepared and on the basis thereof it became possible definitely to recommend 

 to the medical department of the Army official trial in the drafted Army of the methods pre- 

 pared by the committee. 



The chairman of the committee was, upon recommendation of Drs. Vaughan and Welch, 

 of the National Research Council, appointed with the rank of major in the Sanitary Corps, 

 National Army, to organize and direct psychological examining for the medical department. 



