Selection of Subject. 11 



complete a group as possible of systematically related phenomena is a 

 sound procedure which is better adapted to revealing the effects of 

 alcohol, particularly with human subjects, than is the measurement of 

 special, isolated processes. The individual subjects frequently showed 

 considerable variation which, in the case of an isolated process like 

 reaction time, may cause confusion in the interpretation of the results. 

 When experimenting with a group of related phenomena, the various 

 measurements supplement each other; accordingly, while the subjec- 

 tive variations may be as large, they do not exercise proportionately as 

 marked an effect on the general results. Thus, a group of processes 

 selected because of their (1) inter-relation, (2) elementary nature, and 

 (3) theoretically practiced condition, provided the techniques and con- 

 trols are adequate, should yield results of such definiteness that a repe- 

 tition of the experiments with the same subject or subjects would not 

 change the findings essentially. 



In choosing a subject for a repetition of the Dodge and Benedict 

 series of experiments, we were fortunate in securing the services of the 

 one who had shown the most irregular effects of the alcohol, and, on the 

 average, an effect which was less than that for the other normal sub- 

 jects. 1 This seemed the crucial subject with whom to test the general 

 proposition of a repeat experiment, in which the technique employed in 

 the earlier investigations should be used. On several pages in their 

 publication 2 Dodge and Benedict call special attention to this subject, 

 who showed rather wide variation from the average for the normal 

 group of subjects, as will be considered later in the discussion of the 

 results obtained with the various measurements. Dodge and Bene- 

 dict make this general statement concerning him: 



"This tendency of Subject VI to differ from the group was a troublesome 

 matter to handle. It was possible that he actually presented a physiological 

 exception to the average effects of alcohol as represented by the rest of the 

 group. As far as our controls went, however, it was not impossible that he was 

 taking food or drugs that masked the effect of the alcohol. It was further 

 possible that his was one of the cases of chance variation. In any event it 

 appeared advisable to repeat the experiments on him after his work in the 

 medical «chool had closed in June." 3 



On the suggestion of Professor Dodge, who knew these conditions 

 but had not fully revealed them to the writer, Subject VI was chosen 

 for the second series of observations. It was our desire that the two 

 series be elaborated entirely independently, that they might the better 

 serve for a critical comparison. 



1 As is found, Dodge and Benedict (Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. No. 232, 1915, p. 263, table 50, 

 Subject VI) demonstrated an alcohol effect less than the average in patellar reflex, lid reflex, eye 

 reactions, and word reactions, i. e-., all of the more simple processes; see statements at bottom of 

 page 245 of the same monograph that "the lowest centers are depressed most and the highest 

 least." The effect was larger than the average in memory, faradic threshold, and finger move- 

 ments. Eye movements would have been included here also, but the data for movements to 

 the left were insufficient. 



2 Dodge and Benedict, Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. No. 232, 1915, pp. 55, 71, 72, 133, and 209. 



3 Dodge and Benedict, ibid., p. 55. 



