1897.] Psychology. 253 
the elements in the word “ via”; and third, of the elements in the letter 
v, for six subjects. It was found that the individual variations in each 
of these results had an identifying value for each individual, and that 
these differences persisted through different rates of speed. These 
variations are due to two factors, one accidental, standing in inverse 
ratio to skill; the other intentional, corresponding to inflection in 
speech. The latter factor is what gives operators so complete an ability 
to recognize other operators across the wire. 
I. The curve of improvement in learning.—The sending curve rises 
more rapidly and more uniformly than does the receiving curve from 
the beginning of practice to the learner’s maximum ability. In the 
receiving curve there are two “ plateaus,” one just preceding the ordi- 
nary telegraphic rate, and another, if the learner continues to practice 
increasingly difficult work, just above it. It then rises again till it 
crosses the sending curve. Experts can invariably receive more rapidly 
than send. The slower rate of improvement in yeceiving is due partly 
to an unavoidable lack of practice, together with greater pleasure in 
sending. But the plateaus have a special significance ; for while they 
exhibit no measureable improvement, they are indispensable condi- 
tions of a more rapid improvement after they are passed. 
Only intense effort educates in receiving. Even years of practice do 
not assure improvement unless there is a constant increase in the diffi- 
culties of the task. Every new step in advance seems to cost more than 
the former. 
This detailed and careful study of telegraphy proves with scientific 
rigor that it is a true language, which becomes so thoroughly assimilated 
that thinking apparently resolves itself into the telegraphic shorthand, 
and which admits of delicate individual inflection and emotional ex- 
pression. The principles, too, which underlie the process of acquiring 
it may have important pedagogical applications.—J. FORSYTH CRAW- 
FORD. 
Mrs. Helen Gardener onthe Inheritence of Subserviency. 
—Mrs. Helen Gardener is a frequent contributor to that highly spec- 
ulative and rarely scientific Journal the Arena. At the Congress of 
Mothers recently held in Washington she read a remarkable paper on 
heredity. As reported in the daily press it calls for some remarks, 
especially as it is stated that she says that her opinions “ deal with 
demonstrable facts,” and that her “theme is scientific.” Her thesis is 
that “self-abnegation, subserviency to man, whether he be father, lover, 
or husband, is the most dangerous theory that can be taught to or 
