370 ANNALS NEW YORE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



tribute the varying lengths among different subjects. As only one 

 method can be tried at a time, an experiment of this nature must needs 

 extend over a period of several years. In the case of prose, by the once- 

 per-day method, 500 words were memorized in as few days as the 95- 

 word passage. The time may therefore be said to vary directly as the 

 length of the passage. The same holds true for digits and nonsense- 

 syllables, but not to so great a degree; for the number of days needed 

 for 200 nonsense-syllables was considerably greater than that needed 

 for 20. By the "continuous" method, however, we observe that where 

 the 100-word passage was memorized in 9 minutes, the 500-word passage 

 took 52 minutes — nearly 6 times as much time being required, although 

 the passage is only 5 times as long. This is much more strikingly shown 

 when we examine the curve obtained for the digits. Here we see that 

 although it took only 5 minutes to learn 24 digits, it took 2 hours and 

 34 minutes to learn 200 — more than 31 times as long instead of 8. 

 In short, it is obvious that the once-per-day method is — to say nothing 

 of giving a far superior retention — far more economical than the "con- 

 tinuous" method. This is especially so for material memorized by motor 

 associations such as nonsense-syllables or digits. 

 The Section then adjourned. 



F. Lyman Wells; 



Secretary. 



BUSINESS MEETING. 

 6 May, 1912. 



The Academy met at 8 :15 p. m. at the American Museum of Natural 

 History, President s McMillin presiding. 



The minutes of the last business meeting were read and approved. 



The Recording Secretary reported the deaths of the following 

 members : 



Col. John Jacob Astor, an Active Member for 18 years, lost with 

 the Titanic. 



Mr. Isidor Straus, an Active Member for 6 years, lost with the 

 Titanic. 



Col. John Weir, a Life Member for 5 years, lost with the Titanic. 



Mr. George Borup, an Active Member for 4 months. 



The Eecording Secretary spoke of the great loss to the Academy, 

 the Museum and the scientific world at large entailed by the death of 

 Mr. Borup, who was to have been the leader of the Crocker Land Ex- 

 pedition organized under the auspices of the American Museum of 



