September 7, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



"3 



Dr. Berger measured the time needed by the boys of the differ- 

 ■ent classes of a German Gymnasium to read a given Latin passage. 

 It will be remembered that the Gymnasium consists of six classes, 

 or, as the three highest classes are each divided into two, of nine 

 classes ; and that the study of Latin is begun upon entering the 

 school, and is continued with great zeal throughout the nine-years' 

 course. The five scholars with the highest and the five with the 

 lowest standing were chosen from each class. The average ages 

 of these groups of ten scholars from the nine classes were 10.7, 

 12.0, 12. g, 14.2, 15.2, 16.4, 18.0, 18.6, and 21.6 years. The class 

 preparatory to the Gymnasium was also tested, the average age of 

 the boys being nine years. These last boys had no Latin instruc- 

 tion. Each Gymnasium scholar read (i) the first hundred words 

 •from Tacitus' ' Agricola ' (Chapter L), as well as (2) the next five 

 hundred words, as rapidly as possible, with some sacrifice of 

 distinctness, and (3) he again read the first hundred words with 

 niormal rapidity. The average number of seconds necessary to 

 read a hundred words by the three tests for the boys of each class 

 is as follows : — 



■We see at once that the higher the class, the less tirqe does it take 

 for the boys to read Latin, and that this shortening of the time is 

 in conformity with the general law of practice, — at first rapid, and 

 then slower and slower. We see, too, that the most decided dif- 

 ference is between the boys who have had no Latin instruction 

 and those who have just been initiated into its mysteries. The 

 numbers in the second line are larger than in the first, indicating 

 the difficulty of retaining this speed for a longer time. The differ- 

 ences are less as the boys are older, showing that the older boys 

 have greater facility at protracted rapid reading. A similar test 

 with Goethe's ' Egmont ' (v. 2) resulted as follows: — 



The comparison of this table with the foregoing shows (i) the 

 great difference in time due to the familiarity and comprehension of 

 the vernacular ; (2) that the additional effort needed to read five 

 hundred German words is less than in the case of Latin ; (3) that 

 the great difference between VI. and VII. disappears, because all 

 the boys are acquainted with German ; and (4) that the curve of 

 practice is generically the same in the two cases. A point of great 

 interest, applicable to both languages, is that the difference between 

 (i) and (3) is greatest with the older boys: in other words, when 

 these read normally, they read for the sense, and thus slowly, 

 while the younger boys read more mechanically. The familiarity 

 of the passage, due to its being read a second time, even makes (3) 

 shorter than (i). 



To obviate the objection that this shortening of the time is due to 

 a general quickening of the intellectual activities, and not to a prac- 

 tice in Latin, Dr. Bergertested the boys by measuring the times neces- 



(i) 5 colors .. 

 (2I 10 colors. 



have had no special practice, while exhibiting differences due to 

 age does not at all correspond with the former differences. 



The interesting point is to determine the nature of the psychic 

 process by which this quickening of the process is brought about. 

 If we divide the time consumed in reading into (i) the time for the 

 impression to reach the retina and the brain, (2; that for recogniz- 

 ing it and calling up the appropriate sound-image, and (3) that for 

 setting the vocal apparatus in working order, we recognize in (2; 

 the important psychic factor. Previous experiments as well as or- 

 dinary observation have shown that the unit in reading is not the 

 letter, but the word (adults reading a word almost as fast as a 

 letter) ; that, furthermore, all the three processes overlap in time, 

 and that the eye goes ahead of the voice. If the words are in con- 

 struction, we can take in more of them at a glance, and so read 

 faster. In the following table the first line, taken from the table 

 above, gives the time for reading a hundred German words 

 forming sense ; the second line, the time for reading a hundred 

 words not rationally connected. 



sary for them to name (i) any one of a group of five or (2) of ten 

 colors, as the above table shows this exercise, in which they 



The nature of the errors in reading, likewise points to a differ- 

 ence in the number of words grasped at one time. The youngest 

 boys of class VII. misread letters or syllables, such as eitra for 

 citra. Class VI. were more apt to mistake one word for another, 

 csstas for atas. The older boys misread sentences, but not so as 

 to interfere with the sense. The shortening would thus be due to 

 reading more and more words as wholes, and not as combinations 

 of syllables. This can be verified thus : taking the classes by 

 groups of three, the average times needed to read a hundred 

 words in construction is, from the last table, 45, 31.3, 24.6 seconds ; 

 for disconnected words, 53, 42.3, 35.6 seconds; and the ratios of 

 these pairs of numbers are 1.18, 1.35, 1.45, an increasing series. 

 This means that the older boys profit more by having the words in 

 construction than the younger ones. The same can be observed in 

 the difference between the rapid and the normal reading of Latin, 

 as noted above. The effect would be more noticeable in the case 

 of Latin, for here at first the words are almost all mere sound-signs 

 without associations with one another. 



Dr. Berger then concludes (i) that the effect of practice is 

 greatest upon the central psychic portion of the reading process ; 

 and (2) that it acts by increasing the scope of the mind, enabling it 

 to take in more complex impressions as units, and enlarging the 

 number of, as well as the associative links between, the impres- 

 sions. 



The Effect of Stimulants upon the Re-action Time. 

 — Dr. Dehio (^NeurologiscJies Centralblaii, Feb. 15) injected a dose 

 of coffee in the form of caffeine subcutaneously, and administered 

 tea containing 1.5 per cent of theine, and with the subject under 

 the influence of the drug measured his re-action time, and the 

 times necessary for simple psychic processes. He found that the 

 simple re-action time tended to become shorter in the drugged 

 than in the normal condition ; the time necessary to choose between 

 several modes of re-action (choice-time) was not affected one 

 way or the other ; while the time needed to find an association 

 for a word or similar process was shortened and the variations 

 in the times reduced under the influence of coffee, and was at 

 first shortened and then lengthened under tea. This double effect 

 of shortening followed by lengthening is also shown under alcohol, 

 but alcohol affects the choice-time, while tea does not. Again : in 

 the apperceptive processes the shortened times under tea last for 

 some time before the lengthening sets in, while the corresponding 

 period is brief with alcohol. The general effect of alcohol is to 

 excite, while tea induces fatigue. 



