332 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



tive positions of the terms are considered. The unit of change in order 

 is the transposition of two terms, and the difference between two orders of 

 the same terms is measured by the number of transpositions necessary to 

 pass from one order to the other. This number is easily counted up, and 

 the necessary constants, e. g., the total number of transpositions necessary 

 to reverse a given order, are also readily calculated. The method has the 

 same advantages in psychological work as are brought out by Spearman 

 in favor of his method of measuring changes in rank; the present method 

 is claimed by its author to be more accurate and adequate for the purpose 

 in hand. 



Mr. Freeman said in abstract: The reactor traced lines with an ordi- 

 nary pencil on a fixed sheet of paper, as in writing, and the tracing was 

 taken on the moving kymograph strip beneath through a typewriter ribbon. 

 The pressure changes which accompanied the movement could also be 

 recorded. The three general types of reaction which occur in writing, con- 

 sisting, respectively, in starting a movement, stopping a movement and 

 changing the direction of a movement, were compared as to their reaction 

 time and as to the relative speed, amplitude and pressure of the movements 

 themselves. The reaction time in stopping a movement was, on the aver- 

 age, over 40 per cent, slower than in starting a movement. This may be 

 accounted for on the ground that preparation for starting a movement can 

 be accurately made. On the other hand, no such preparation can be made 

 in stopping a rhythmic movement, such as is used in writing, since the 

 character of the inhibition depends on the stage of the movement which 

 happens to be in progress at the time of signal. In starting a movement 

 the reaction time varied with the complexity of the course of the movement 

 after the reaction, which seemed to be reflected back into the preparatory 

 state. Changing the direction was the slowest of all. Consciousness in 

 general was correlated with the whole progressively developing coordina- 

 tion rather than with its separate elements. 



Dr. Wells said in abstract: When a number of representatives of a 

 given class or group independently pass judgment on, say, the relative 

 merits of different authors, the average judgment is important in that it 

 shows how the authors have impressed this class or group, and the devia- 

 tion of an individual's judgment from the average measures the closeness 

 of his conformity to the group standard. It remains possible that an in- 

 dividual may judge by a better standard than that of the group, and in 

 fact persons who from their experience and ability would be expected to 

 be the best judges of literary merit are sometimes found to differ greatly 

 from the average. The standard of judgment actually employed by a 

 group may differ widely from the standard which the group would them- 



