352 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE—1912. : 
more than a feeling of familiarity which would disappear with the 
word. But with apperception the recognition involves more than the 
results of complication”: it includes the play of associated elements 
on the visual impression. 
The associated elements in question are the sound® and meaning. 
Complete reading involves both sound and meaning being aroused. 
But the latter is the more essential. For the object of reading is the 
gathering of the meaning represented by the printed words. Still, in 
all normal cases the sound is also a factor. Some,‘ indeed, consider 
it essential in such cases. It is certain that with normal children the 
sound forms the link between printed word on the one hand and 
meaning on the other. And all methods of teaching to read concern 
themselves with it. ‘Reading is thus doubly an apperceptive pro- 
cess.’ * 
Now, provided that the child is not required to attack pieces which 
are beyond his vocabulary, we may assume that both sound and mean- 
ing are already well established and firmly associated before he comes 
to the task of learning to read. This latter, then, involves in its 
essence the development of the visual percepts of the words and, con- 
currently, the association of these with the sound-meaning complexes 
already in existence. 
This process can go on in several ways. The visual percept of each 
word may be developed and facilitated without any conscious attempt tc 
analyse the printed form into parts.* And the concurrent process of 
? In Stout’s sense. 
* The word s»und must here be understood to include ‘the reinstatement of 
the spoken word, partly by means of auditory-motor images, partly by means of 
actual movements of articulation’ (Sully, ‘ Teacher’s Handbook of Psychology,’ 
new edition, pp. 194-5). 
* £.g., Storring (vide Meumann, Vorlesungen, ii., pp. 273-4). But according 
to the school of Charcot, visuals may gather the meaning without the intervention 
of the sound. ‘For reading in the case of such individuals the path from the 
centre of sight to the centre of meaning will be required ; there exists thus in this 
case a direct connection between the centre of sight and the centre of meaning’ 
(Meumann, op. cit., p. 279). Quantz has shown experimentally that ‘ Lip-move- 
ment is a serious hindrance to speed of reading, and consequently to intelligence 
of reading. The disadvantage extends also to reading aloud’ (‘ Problems in the 
Psychology of Reading,’ The Psychological Review—Monograph Supplements, 
vol. 2, 1897-99, p. 50). W. B. Secor, after experimenting, concludes; ‘ Both 
articulation and audition are to be regarded as aids in reading rather than abso- 
lutely necessary elements.’ And further : ‘It is possible to read without articu- 
lation and audition’ (‘ Visual Reading,’ American Journal of Psychology, 
January 1900, p. 236). 
° Sully, ibid. 
* ‘In the recognition of words the greatest parts are played by the initial and 
final letters (Zeitler and Huey), especially the capital letters. Next come the 
letters extending above the line, then those extending below, the least important 
parts being played by those within the line. Further, the upper part of words 
is more important than the lower part, and the left half of words is more impor- 
tant than the right ’ (Meumann, op. cit., pp. 246-7). The general appearance of 
a word, due to the presence, or absence, or different arrangement of the various 
kinds of ‘determining letters’ above mentioned is called by many German writers 
its Gesamtform. This is without doubt the most important means of recognition 
for adults. And it is probable that the same is true for those children who begin 
the task of learning to read in the way described above. 
