1373 
teachers of elementary middle-class schools assisted us. A special 
procedure had been prescribed for them. The investigation was made 
with a whole class of from 20 to 30 children at the same time. 
The task was written on the blackboard and enjoined the pupils to 
cross as quickly and as well as possible all the a’s, the e’s and the 
h’s of which there were respectively 122, 331 and 59 in the piece. 
The trialpaper was put before the pupils immediately before the 
commencement of the experiment. As the letters to be crossed were 
written distinctly at the top of it, there was no necessity for the 
pupil to look at the blackboard in case he should waver. 
Before starting the experiment proper the children had some 
preparatory practice. A piece of paper was laid before them on 
which were written similar meaningless words, in which they had 
to cross the a’s, the e’s and the /’s with a pencil. This afforded an 
Opportunity to give several hints necessary for an undisturbed and 
uniform progress of the experiment. The children were enjoined to 
cross out the letters only once with a single light stroke, and not 
to return to words and lines that had already been read. 
After the children had received all due information the real tests 
commenced. The teacher gave the sign for starting and marked the 
time. At intervals of a minute a signal sounded for the children to 
indicate with a mark the place they had reached. When a pupil 
was ready he had to turn over his paper, to put down his pencil 
and fold his arms till the last of them had finished his task. In all 
1123 children from 8—12 years were investigated: 596 boys and 
547 girls. Of either sex + 100 children of the age of 8, 9, 10, 11 
or 12 years were at our disposal. As we could make use only of 
the experimental results of those children who had passed the age- 
limit by no more than three months and as we also had to put 
aside some unreliable results, no more than 1073 protocols were at 
our diposal, distributed over the two sexes and the various ages 
as follows: 
Boys 558. Girls 513. 
8 years 104 8 years 98 
Or ie 111 Or 101 
WO nes 112 LO; nia 107 
dk 111 TEM 105 
tiga 120 fd 102 
