102 
of 10 or more syllables are heard, is greatest with the subject M. 
(3.17 m.). This is owing to a considerable extent, to the high per- 
TABLE lll 
ke Symmetrical Irregular 
Subj sentences. Proverbs. sentences. 
R 17 13.7 13.7 
M. | 16.2 16.2 31.1 
D | 14 —— 8.1 
centage of irregular sentences (31.3) with their unfavourable influence 
upon auditory sensation. This influence was much less on R. and D. 
(resp. 13.7 and 8.1 °/). The comparatively small difference in the 
case of R. (1 m.) is to be ascribed to the circumstance that symmetrical 
sentences and proverbs constitute about '/, (30.7 °/,) of the total number 
of the test-sentences that were used. D., being a FLEMING and conse- 
quently unacquainted with Dutch proverbs (which were not presented 
to him) is placed between R. and M., quite in accordance with the 
difference in the hearing distance with 14°/, favourable and 8.1 °/, 
unfavourable factors. 
When we look at Table II more closely, it appears that intra- 
individual differences are not less conspicuous than the inter-indi- 
vidual ones. For, though it is true that the hearing distance with 
the three subjects for trisyllabie sentences is considerably greater 
than for sentences of 10 or more syllables, the distance decreases 
far from regularly. In the case of M. the decrease is gradual with 
only few exceptions. 
Sentences of an odd number of syllables are generally heard 
better by R. and D. than those of an even number having one 
syllable more, they even perceive sentences of 9 syllables resp. 0.23 m. 
and 0.44 m. farther than those of + syllables. 
The cause of this phenomenon, so strange at first, is the fact that 
a symmetrical construction, which largely promotes our hearing 
faculty, occurs more often with sentences of an odd number of - 
syllables than with those of an even number. This is because with 
all symmetrical sentences the number of syllables before and after 
the copula is the same, while with most of them the copula is made 
up of one syllable (is, was, had, are etc.) Besides the agreement just 
alluded to there is also some difference in the shifting of the hearing 
istance, when the number of syllables increases. In the case of R. 
