634 RECORD OF SCIENCE FOR 1886. 



38(7. E is the most difficult letter to read ; M A Z B E was the order 

 of ease in the five letters used. The time for short English words was 

 142(7, being slightly longer for longer or for foreign words. The word 

 is the reading unit, requiring only a slightly longer time for its recog- 

 nition than for that ot a single letter. It takes less time to recognize 

 a small picture than a short word. (3) Choice-time. To act with the 

 right hand for one color, and with the left for another, lengthens the time 

 by 26(7. To re-act by naming {i. e., reading) a letter requires 400(7; a 

 one-place numeral 300(7,393(7 for a two-place, and 418(7 for a three-place, 

 tlie increase in time diminishing. It takes longer to read (not pro- 

 nounce) long than short, foreign than vernacular words. It actually 

 takes only 111(T or 50a less to name a short word than a letter, indicating 

 the closeness of the association between the name and the word. A 

 color is seen quickly, but to name it requires 343(7 ; a picture can be 

 named in about equal time. By way of summary we have: 



a 

 Ro- action time for lijiht 150 



Perceptiou-time for light 40 



Perception-time for color 95 



Perception-time for picture 105 



Perception-time for letter 120 



Perception-time for (short) word... 125 



Choice-time for color 3-10 



Choice-time for picture 305 



Choice-tiiLe for letters 155 



Choice-time for wortls 1 105 



Dr. Cattell also shows that extreme attention can shorten central pro- 

 cesses ; that the effect of practice is marked at first, but soon reaches a 

 limit as automatism sets in ; that fatigue is not so easily induced or so 

 disturbing as usually thought. In a later research (iMind, January? 

 18S7) he adds the following : To give the name of the picture of an ob- 

 ject in a foreign language (English for German, and vice I'ersa) took 

 649(7 and 694(7, respectively, or 172(7 and 149(r longer than in the ver- 

 nacular. This suggests a mode of gauging one's acquaintance with a 

 foreign tongue. It similarly takes longer to translate from the foreign 

 to the vernacular than the reverse. Given a city to name the country in 

 which it is situated required 400(7; given a month to name the following 

 month, 367(7; to name the preceding month, as much as 798(7. Given a 

 month to name its season, 363(7 ; the reverse, 498(7; showing that it is 

 easier to go from part to whole than the reverse. To give an action for 

 a substantive [e. g., swim-Jish), 646(7; an object for a verb {icritc-Iettcr), 

 5L7(7. To judge the length of a line took nearly one second. In general 

 the closer the association the shorter the time ; and the more complex 

 the operation the greater the individual variation. 



Tambroui and Algeri observed (1) the time of feeling a contact on the 

 skin ; (2) tbe time of feeling whether a single point or two points 2.2'"™ 

 a[)art was drawn across the tip of theright forefinger in patients suffering 

 with various kinds of insanity. The paranoiac re-acts more quickly, all 

 other forms of alienation more slowly, than normal. When the normal 



