178 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN. 



require such careful handling that waste of energy cannot be 

 obviated. I have never known a person to write long with such 

 an implement without manifesting fatigue in body and mind. 

 Students who employ such articles to save expense or time in 

 securing something better belong to the penny-wise and .pound- 

 foolish fraternity. 



Another most important characteristic in a writing pen is the 

 material of which the tip or holder is made. Metal holders are 

 very common, although fortunately only about six per cent, of 

 our students employ them ; the others use either rubber or wood 

 holders, or fountain pens. It may perhaps be worth saying for 

 the benefit of the benighted six per cent, that they have adopted 

 a most efficient plan for wasting their vitalities. When the 

 fingers grasp a metal surface perspiration accumulates quickly, 

 and if it be round it will tend to roll in the fingers. In order 

 to keep it in proper position there must be increasing tension 

 which, as any one may by trial prove to his own satisfaction, is 

 a potent agency in dissipating energy. Let one who uses such a 

 pen-holder exchange it for another with a cork tip, where the 

 moisture from the fingers is readily absorbed, and he will find 

 that too great emphasis has not been laid upon this apparently 

 trivial matter. The principle involved applies as well to lead 

 pencils ; those with highly glazed surfaces are difficult to keep 

 steadily in the right position without undue constraint of the 

 fingers. The Eagle Pencil Company is now manufacturing a 

 pencil answering the requirements in this regard. The Eagle 

 Cortex No. 2 has a surface of cork, and I have never known a 

 person to try it without commending it because of the ease with 

 which it may be managed. It may be criticised in one respect 

 only, that the lead is a trifle too hard for the greatest economy in 

 nerve force. 1 A hard lead pencil, like a fine pointed pen, de- 

 mands relatively great co-ordinations and tensions in its control, 

 and hence leads to waste of force. 



Three years ago a change was made from hard to soft lead 

 pencils in the Franklin School, in Buffalo, and the children were 



*A8 this is passing through the press the Eagle Pencil Company sends me a 

 pencil with cork covering and soft lead, which meets the requirements indicated 

 herein. 



