Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-06-16
ALMOST The PHILOSOPHERS SCALES


'o'h Noodleilow might boast that
ne could put girdle round The ear,b i,
iorty minutes. hit modern nsvcboIo,,;.t,
are learning TO accomplish far moro ro
maj hapie tnihgs. In the world of mai.
Ter they are Of little worth. but ,hey bavo
gotteh mold Of the mind leading sirinos
ana nave contriYed SO ingeniotislv t6at
an thoughts, all passions, all dniigbtal
nave become redueible 10 mathematical
formula Not only have they Iearnad
70 express the poet dream in mosaic
thiiiiihetres. and affairs Of the heart in
cold unieeling decmals, but the inten.
sity OF stroke Of iumbago and the rate
Vi speed OF dYspeplic twinge thew now
calculate with numerical exactness
IL Is an actual fact that psychologists
WIN soon have as complete insight into
tle operations Of the mind as have phy
slcians into the functions Of the BODY
Ihe University Of PENNSYLVANIA il the
pioneer III introducing the mind measur-
ing system INTO America Professor Cat
zen brought with him from GERMANY
some quite remarkable instruments
principally Of his own invention. which
are employed in demonstrating his psv-
geological lectures They perform tasks
winch materialists have secuted AZ i'm
possibilities. and strongly tend to prove
thal psychology, despite all that has been
sald 10 Tie contrary, is an exact science.
One Of these instruments will calcu.
iaie 70 nicely the travelling speed of an
impression chronoscope and vol
talc battery are tine principal agents in
the solution Of this intricate problem.
by their means registration is made of
the exact time that elapses between the
occurrence Of am act and the sign given
by the subject operated upon that he has
perceived the act By a process of sub
traction the time is discovered which
passes between the moment at which
the impression reaches consciousness
and the moment when the subject knows
he perceiyes In this manner a mans
rapidly Of perception-his ability to see,
taste. smell hear OF feel-may be accu-
rately determined
for the measurement Of sound the sub
Ject forms circuit by applying hi>hands
to the two poles Of the battery. On hear
ing a specified noise he instantly breaks
the circuit immediately the hand of
the clronoscope stops short. indicating
( IN thousandths Of a second the time that
has elapsed between the occurrence OF
the sound and the breaking of the cir
cult On this lasis mans perceptive
power is calculated.
~ analogous means the comparative
swittness Of sight is measured PROBES
sol Cattell has ascertained. for instance.
that one-tentA Of a second suffices for
him to perceive color, oce-eighth of a
second is necessary for the perception of
a letter, and one-seventh of a second for
a word
The strength Of a persons memory is
determined by a complicated machine
which presents to the eye at intervals of
a second flashes of light of varying de
grees of intensity. The more subtle is a
mans power OF recognition the more
readily Ire distinguishes one light spot
froa another and the longer he retains
his impressions. In this way the minds
concentration and retentiveness are
measured ia fractions OF a second.
By means Of the gravity chronometer
the comparative ease or difficulty with
which letters or words may be perceived
is demonstrated In a sliding screen
moved by electricity a slit five inches
wide i inserted. behind which an object
f is exposed To view for an infnitessimal
space of time.
III series OF experiments with the
letters of the alphabet the time of expos
urs was one-th0usandth Of a second.
That Of 27u trials " was seen 24l times.
while Z appeared seen but GO times. OF
other capital letters g. NJ, D and Il
ranked next in succession after in the
quicbue,5 with which they were per
ceired. while Y. F, L and were OBJ
served only with great difficulty. Of
the small letters ID" is the most easily
recognized. and IS" least easily, the for
mer being perceived three times as often
as the latter
II the several colors are exposed to
view in like manner for a fraction of a
second orange and yellow will be most
clearly perceived. Blue, red and green
follow in the order named, violet being
the least easily recognized and requiring
two or three times as long exposure as
the bright colors. This device serves to
measure the range or completely of the
mind. Philadelphia Record.