68 Effect of Alcohol on Psycho-Physiological Functions. 



space of 2.5 cm. During the test these words were exposed through 

 a slit 14 mm. wide. From the position of the subject the kymograph 

 moved in a clockwise direction (from left to right). The exposure of 

 the word was, therefore, from right to left, that is, from end to begin- 

 ning. The last letter of the particular word appeared first and so on 

 until the first letter was finally seen; the last letter of the word was of 

 course by this time covered from view and had to be retained in mem- 

 ory. The voice key was held continuously in position and the subject 

 was instructed to speak each word as soon as possible. Two complete 

 revolutions of the drum, that is, two exposures of the word series, were 

 allowed. At the time of the second exposure the subject was told to 

 try to speak each word in order just before it began to appear, or with 

 as little of it appearing as possible. While in position, immediately 

 after the test, the kymograph record was carefully marked so as to 

 show just where the first word began to appear and just where it had 

 entirely appeared. From this latter mark the record was afterwards 

 measured off in blocks of 4 cm. each, these respective positions indi- 

 cating the time when the respective words had entirely appeared to 

 the subject. From figure 7, which is a typical memory measurement 

 record for this series of experiments, these points may be seen and better 

 understood. The short vertical line at the extreme right of the record 

 marked with the letter a indicates the position where the first word in a 

 series began to appear, that is, where the last letter of the word began 

 to be visible to the subject through the slit at this point. The vertical 

 lines marked B are at the position where the first letter of the word was 

 entirely visible to the subject. From here, measuring to the left in 

 blocks of 4 cm., we have other positions representing the completion of 

 exposure of other words. All of these short vertical lines were put in 

 later in elaborating the record. The reactions are indicated by the 

 notches in the horizontal line of the record. R x and R 2 for reactions 

 1 and 2 are marked in several places. Usually R x is to the left of its 

 respective vertical line B, while R 2 is to the right of this fine, showing 

 that at the second exposure the subject recognized and was able to 

 pronounce the word before it was entirely seen. If R 2 is 25 mm. to the 

 right of its vertical fine B, it indicates that the subject had completely 

 memorized and pronounced the word before any part of it was visible. 

 There is no such case shown in the part of this record which is repro- 

 duced. The nearest to this condition is in the second word in the series 

 at the top of the figure. 1 



There are two ways in which these memory records may be treated. 

 The time distance may be measured (1) between the two reactions R x 

 and R 2 for each individual word, or (2) from the second reaction to that 



1 The experimenter occupied a position just opposite the subject and marked the record from 

 his point of view, as can be seen if the figure is reversed. Incidentally, from the time marked under 

 each test (9.10), (10.00), etc., the length of the experimental period will be evident. This par- 

 ticular record is a part of the one for July 3, a normal day. 



