Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-09-16
Rspidity Of Thought.

sIR HExRY HOLLAND, in his recently
published Fragmentary Papers, touch
es upon some minor, but very interesting,
questions o. psychology. In one OF these
dlsauisitioBs he treats Of mental opera.
lions Ia relation 10 time. He says: With
10 a minute have been able 10 coerce the
mind, so 10 speak, into more than dozen
acts or states Of thought, 30 homogeneous
that no natural association could possibly
bring them into succession. In iilustra-
ton note here certain objects which,
with watch before me, ] have just sue.
ceeded In COMPRISING, distinctly and
successfully, within thirty seconds OF time
the pyramids Of Ghizeh, the Ornitho-
! rhynchus, Julius Caesar, the Ottawa Falls,
the rings Of Saturn, the Apollo Belgedere.
This il an experiment j have often made
on myself, and with the same general re-
suit. II would be hard 10 name or de
scribe the operation Of mind by which
these successive objects have been thus
suddenly evoked and dismissed. There
IA the volition 10 change. but how must
ye define that effort by which the mind,
without any principle Of selection or as
soeiaiiOn, can grasp so rapidly success
sion Of images thus homogeneous, drawn
seemingly at random from past thoughts
and memoriesg ] call IL an effort because
il II felt as such and cannot be long con
tinned without fatigue"
In commenting upon this writer In
Nature says: This is q curious subject,
which easily admits Of experiment, but IL
will be found that the velocity with which
thoughts can be made to succeed each
other depends entirely upon the degree Of
similarity or connection between them.
Judging from my own experience and
that OF three students, well qualified 10
test the matter. find that, where the OBJ
iects thought Of are as incongruous as
possible, the number which the mind can
suggest to itself In minute varies from
tweive--tbc result OF Sir Henry Holland
up to about twenty. Anyone who tries
the experiment. however, will find that
there Is an almost insuperable temptation
TO 20 off on lines Of association. Toavoid
these, and yet 10 think rapidly requires
very disagreeable effort, becoming more
and more painful by repetition. When
the thoughts are restricted within certain
grooves, M IL were, the result Is more
rapid succession. Thus one student was
able 10 think in minute Of thirty differ
ent kinds Of actions, fortysix animals,
fifty places or fifty persons. ! can myself
think without much effort Of thirty-two
animals or forty persons or places In a
minute. Even In these cases, however, it
will be found that the rapidity greatly de.
ponds upon the degree In which the OBJ
Iccts have been associated. When thoughts
have been very closely and frequently
linked together, the number which may be
compressed within minute Ii much
greater. find that | can count about
ninety six In half minute, which, with
out allowing for the two places Of figures,
give 1902 thoughts perminute. ] can think
of every letter In the alphabet In five sec
onds ut most, which Is at the rate of more
than 300 per minute. Finally, by count
ing the first ten numbers over and over
again, have compressed nearly 400
changes Of idea within the minute