December 20, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



971 



SECTION OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY 

 OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



A MEETING was held on November 25, with 

 Professor Farrand occupying the chair. 



Professor Robert MacDougall stated some of 

 the conclusions of an investigation into the 

 ' Combination of Simple Rhythm Groups in 

 Higher Syntheses, and their Equivalences. ' He 

 has found that the simplest rhythmic units are 

 always combined into larger groups, provided 

 only the units succeed each other with sufficient 

 rapidity. And these larger groups may be 

 combined into others still larger — a process to 

 which no definite limits can be set. The 

 simplest group of rhythmic units is the pair or 

 dipody, which appears in every rhythmic series 

 that admits of such grouping. The means by 

 which this coupling of the units is accomplished 

 in poetry are : Subordination of the accent of 

 one unit to the accent of the other, differentia- 

 tion in the intervals, introduction of mid-line 

 and final pauses, catalexis and rhyme. In any 

 sort of rhythm that is objectively expressed, 

 the first unit of a dipody receives the major ac- 

 cent, and also occupies more time than the 

 second unit. Even in a long rhythmic series, 

 there is properly no mere reduplication of 

 units, but each unit fulfils a unique function 

 in the series, in virtue of which it is difier- 

 entiated from all the other units, in emphasis 

 and duration and also in its internal configura- 

 tion. 



Professor Edward L. Thorndike spoke of 

 some general aspects of the investigation which 

 he is at present carrying on into the correla- 

 tions amongst mental abilities. He found that 

 regular correlation, where each degree of one 

 function involves a similar degree of the other, 

 is by no means the rule in the case of mental 

 abilities. The relationships are often extremely 

 irregular. For instance a high degree of one 

 ability may go with a high degree of another 

 but all other grades may involve no similarity 

 in the other. A single coefficient of correla- 

 tion in such cases is of course an absurdity. 

 Correlations seem more marked between com- 

 plex than between simple abilities. A variation 

 of the Pearson method was outlined, which is 

 well adapted to work with mental correlations 

 and especially with studies involving few cases. 



As samples of his results. Dr. Thorndike 

 demonstrated the absence of correlation be- 

 tween certain motor and mental tests, the pro- 

 nounced correlation between ability to spell 

 and ability to notice the structure of words, 

 the pronounced correlations between school 

 marks in different subjects and the lesser de- 

 grees of correlation in the case of objective 

 tests in the same subjects. 



Mr. J. Franklin Messenger outlined an ' Ex- 

 perimental Study of Number Perception.' His 

 experiments had reference to the so-called 

 space threshold in tactile sensations, to the 

 fusion of touch sensations, and to the perception 

 of number through touch. The validity of a 

 threshold determined only by the distance 

 apart of the two points applied to the skin was 

 denied, because distance is only one of the 

 elements on which the perception is based, 

 and often not the most important element. 

 The fusion of two tactile sensations was also 

 denied because of such facts as the following, 

 that two points, one on each hand, may be per- 

 ceived as one point when the hands are close 

 together. 



The speaker offered a theory of the tactile 

 perception of number. Number is not directly 

 sensed by touch, but is inferred from various 

 peculiarities of the tactile sensation, such as 

 the geometrical arrangement of the stimulating 

 objects, the distance apart of these objects, the 

 contour of the surface stimulated — and also 

 from the preceding sensation and the attitude 

 of the subject. 



R. S. WOODWORTH, 



Secretary. 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 



At a meeting of the Club at the College of 

 Pharmacy on October 30, the scientific program 

 was opened by a paper by Dr. D. T. MacDougal, 

 entitled, ' Some Characters of Alpine Vegeta- 

 tion. ' The paper was illustrated with numerous 

 sheets of mountain plants from Montana, many 

 of them with attached photographs showing 

 the habitat. In the Missoula region where Dr. 

 MacDougal was working this summer, the 

 growing season for many plants was about 40 

 days only, but the actual light][reaching the 

 plants may have been 30^ to 40 per cent, 

 greater than at sea level, and with a larger 



