550 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1006 



gariousness is nothing but the expression of the 

 instincts of fear and curiosity." 



Reason, imagination, inhibition and other char- 

 acteristics were discussed. 



A Comparison of White and Colored Children 



Measured by the Binet Scale of Intelligence: 



JosiAH Morse. 



Two hundred and twenty-five white and one 

 hundred and twenty-five colored children ia the 

 public schools of Columbia, S. C, were tested; 

 ages ranging from six to twelve, inclusive. Ke- 

 sults: The number of white children testing at 

 age is decidedly larger than any other group, 

 whereas for the colored children the largest group 

 is the one testing one year below age. In the 

 satisfactory group there is a difference of nearly 

 15 per cent, between the white and colored; nearly 

 three times as many colored are more than a year 

 backward, and less than one per cent, are more 

 than a year advanced. 



The picture tests, those relating to time and 

 money, distinguishing between morning and after- 

 noon, enumerating the months, counting stamps 

 and making change, the drawing tests, both copy- 

 ing and reproducing from memory, were all too 

 difficult. The answers to the questions of com- 

 prehension, to the absurd statements and to the 

 problems of various facts, were often absurd or 

 senseless; the best replies, however, compare 

 favorably with those of the white children. The 

 definitions were often not better than terms of 

 use, and frequently stated in the language of a 

 younger chUd. 



Compared with the white, the colored children 

 excelled in rote memory, e. g., in counting, repeat- 

 ing digits — though not one was able to repeat 

 26 syllables — naming words, making rhymes, and 

 in time orientation. They are inferior in esthetic 

 judgment, observation, reasoning, motor control, 

 logical memory, use of words, resistance to sug- 

 gestion, and in orientation or adjustment to the 

 institutions and complexities of civilized society. 



A rough classification into three groups, accord- 

 ing to color — dark, medium, light — showed that 

 the darkest children are more nearly normal, the 

 lightest show the greatest variation, both above 

 and below normal. 



The paper appeared in the January number of 

 Popular Science Monthly, Vol. LXXXIV, No. 1, 

 January, 1914. 



A General Intelligence Test: L. R. Geissleb. 

 Minor Studies in Learning and Selearning : David 



Spence Hill. 



The studies presented were from the standpoint 

 of an instructor in educational psychology for 

 college classes, and illustrate useful methods of 

 individual and class experimentation. The studies 

 consist of three series. The first is descriptive of 

 material for and uses of mirror-drawing. One 

 subject practised drawing stars for forty-eight 

 days. Three years afterward the trials were re- 

 sumed, and it was found that in about three trials 

 the former speed and accuracy were attained. 

 Analysis of the relearning does not show evidence 

 that "the mind continues its activity for a time 

 in the furtherance of a learning process after 

 practise and study have ceased, ' ' as suggested in 

 the similar experiment of Swift. 



In the mirror-drawing experiment, by initial and 

 terminal tests before and after the above practise, 

 an interesting demonstration was made of the 

 regulation of transfer effect, both to right and left 

 hands. This was accomplished by the use of 

 slightly dissimilar geometrical figures, by the use 

 of which there were found fairly consistent dif- 

 ferences in net results of improvement. 



The second study is a class experiment employ- 

 ing substitution tests. A group of ten students 

 participated during twelve days. A presentation 

 of the problems of intervals of study, the method 

 of equal groups, the question of individual dif- 

 ferences before, during, and after practise is in- 

 cluded. 



The third series consisted of cancellation experi- 

 ments the object of which was to illustrate a con- 

 venient form of A-test suitable for group or in- 

 dividual use. In constructing the form, twenty- 

 six marbles were marked with the letters of the 

 alphabet, shaken in a small basket and thereupon 

 a marble was withdrawn. After the letter was 

 written down another mixing and withdrawal was 

 made, and finally the MS. thus constructed was 

 printed by a linotype. This method of distributing 

 the twenty-six letters, although laborious, secured 

 for practical purposes one hundred alphabets ar- 

 ranged in chance order. A group test during 

 fourteen days was made upon the effect of prac- 

 tise in making A's and concerning the transfer of 

 the improved capacity to marking words contain- 

 ing e and r, from a Latin text. The results are 

 not inconsistent with those of Thorndike. 



The paper will appear in the Journal of Edu- 

 cational Psychology. 



Edwaed K. Strong, Jr., 

 Acting Secretary, Section E 



