6o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tance of the several senses in this respect, and tlins register the 

 degree to which one is a " visionaire," "auditaire," and so on. 



III. These form the most difficult as well as most interesting 

 tests. Two paragraphs (of course, the same can be done with syl- 

 lables, numerals, words, and so on), of equal difficulty are chosen, 

 and, while one is read by the subject, the other is read aloud to 

 him. The reading must not be especially loud or pronounced, 

 but neither must it be monotonous. It is very important that, 

 in repeating as much as possible of the contents of both para- 

 graphs, one should as often repeat first what has been read as 

 what has been heard. The amount of forgetting of the other 

 paragraph that goes on while you repeat what you can of the one, 

 is surprising. In this performance, appealing simultaneously to 

 eye and ear, the " auditaire " is attracted to what he hears, the 

 " visionaire " to what he sees, and the former knows more of what 

 has been read, the latter of what he has read. A strong " vision- 

 aire " may, at times, know nothing of the passage read to him, 

 while the " auditaire " may listlessly let his eye wander across the 

 page, his attention being involuntarily chained to what he hears. 



A modified form of this test can be adopted by finding the Jimit 

 of words, etc., that can be perfectly learned by the eye and ear 

 simultaneously. While the " auditaire " can listen to and retain 

 six words, he may be able to read and retain (at the same time) 

 only two or three words ; while with the " visionaire " the proposi- 

 tions will be reversed. That it is possible to do these two things at 

 once is shown by some ingenious experiments of M. Paulhan.* 

 This observer finds that the more disparate the faculties used in 

 doing two things at once, the better can they be done ; and that 

 the simpler the processes, the less the difference between the sum 

 of the times necessary to do each separately and the time to do 

 both at once, this difference failing entirely in very simple pro- 

 cesses. When the two sentences get confused it is suggestive to 

 note whether a heard word creeps into the passage read, or vice 

 versa. 



If a person is an " auditaire," a further test of the degree of this 

 trait can be thus made : While a passage is being read to him, let 

 him copy a sentence or two from a book. If a strong " auditaire," 

 he will find that he has been writing automatically, knows little of 

 what he has written, and can tell more or less of what he has heard. 

 The " visionaire," on the other hand, knows what he has written 

 almost word for word, and less than usual of what has been read 

 to him. That is, with a strong " auditaire," hearing outweighs 

 sight even when supported by the muscular sense ; while, when 

 thus supported, sight more than usually outweighs hearing for 

 the " visionaire." 



* "Revue Scientifique," June, isSY; reported ia "Science," July 8, 1887. 



