24 Thaddeus L. Bolton and Eleonora T. Miller 



graph, were made to the beating of the metronome. The time 

 between the beats must be nicely divided between contraction 

 and relaxation. There must be neither haste nor too much delay 

 at any point. It is an easy matter, when time for consideration 

 can be taken, to learn the movement that will be most effective 

 in lifting the weight, but it is another thing to make it repeatedly 

 in spite of feelings of increasing discomfort and weariness which 

 tend most strongly to break up the coordination and the proper 

 timing of the movement within the interval in which a full con- 

 traction must be completed. Each part of the movement must 

 be the stimulus for making the next part, and so on, the com- 

 pleted movement becoming the stimulus of a new one. Each 

 part must be separated by a time interval practically equal to the 

 full reflex time for such an act. The movement then becomes a 

 series of reflex actions joined together in serial order by habit. 

 The various noises issuing from the apparatus during any con- 

 traction come to group themselves together in such a way as to 

 have a cumulative effect in exciting the succeeding contraction. 

 These successive stimuli are summated, apparently increasing 

 enormously the number of contractions that can be made. When 

 this stage in the perfection of the movement can be reached, it 

 seems to go on of itself and ceases only when some extraneous 

 influence intrudes itself to break the usual series of stimuli that 

 lead up to the climax before contraction. Effort must be used 

 either to repress the intruder or to execute the movement. Acces- 

 sory movements begin to appear after that, and the reagent soon 

 reaches the limit of his power. These accessory movements are 

 energy-consuming and hasten the approach of exhaustion as has 

 been shown. The rhythm of the movement once caught leads 

 to the gradual increase in the number of contractions and is 

 therefore an aid to endurance. Rhythm and skill can not easily 

 be separated. Rhythm means skill in executing repeated move- 

 ments, 



The fourth element in the growth of practice is endurance. 

 Without a doubt this is a distinct phenomenon. A reagent thor- 

 oughly habituated to the ergograph will make a long series of 

 contractions with no apparent signs of fatigue or feelings of 

 weariness. He will actually reach the exhaustion point without 



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