The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-03-19

IL
ment is now being carried on. Sur
rounded by the proper influences, the
subject Is being allowed to smell an
odor which invariably reminds him Of
a certain event OF the past Latterly,
however this odor is being gradually
lessened in intensity and another odor
entirely different in character is being
introduced into the room. The subject
is never allowed to smell the first with
out the second, and the first will finally
be allowed to disappear altogether. If,
| with this new odor alone, the subject
is finally reminded of the event above
mentioned, it will show that this odor
| remembrance is merely a habit more or
| less mechanical in its action.
HONEST LYING.
"There is not one person in a hun
| dred," said Huxley, "who can describe
| the commonest occurrence with even an
| approach to accuracy" Later the psy-
| biologists go further than this and as
| sert that almost any person, with suit
| able manipulation. can be made to be-
! lieve that he has participated in events
with which he in reality could not pos
sibly have been connected at the time
of their happening. \ case in point
| was reported recently. A wOuldbe
| pensioner under the government ap-
! piled to a man under whom he had
! served during the war for corrobora-
! ton of the statement that he had been
| injured by a gun carriage while on the
march. The second man denied any
! knowledge of the event. Months later
| the first man brought up the subject
| again. but could not convince his form
| pv fffiA of 10 Of 70
ment. At intervals, covering some
years, he repeated the experiment, un-
| til finally the mind of the officer be-
| gan to waver in favor of the private; I;
! and it actually ended in the former
signing an affidavit to the effect that
he had witnessed the accident. Then,
| having considered the matter further,
| he wavered again, and finally he came
| to the conclusion that what he remem-
| bered was not the accident itself, but
| the would-be pensioners former ac-
counts Of it. This, after all, is only
| an abstract corroboration of the old
| saying that a man needs only to tell a
| lie sufficient number of times in or
der to be thoroughly convinced that it
is true.
The point of the observations at Cor
| nell is that no one really remembers
an event itself. The capacity for so
doinS would be a real misfortune to
the person so equipped, in view of all
tnat must be crowded into the brain
Of the average person during his or her
lifetime. The thing SINNERS down to a
general impression, and even the edge
| OF this becomes blunted very soon if
we do not recharge our mind with new
images of the event. The image of the
event itself must perforce at last pass
| away from us, but by often recapitulat-
| ing our knowledge of it we do some
| thing to preserve it In our minds. In
short. our memory of a happening is
net of the event itself, but of our pre-
| vious memories of it. Mechanically il
| lustrated, the process is the same as
though several billiard balls are placed
in line and then shot at by another
ball The latter strikes one end of the
line but only the ball on the other
end moves. The force is transmitted
al the way through, however.
VIOLETS.
Another remarkable series of expert
ments now being carried on in Cornell
has to do with the odor of Violets Con-
centratiOn of the human mind is being
ments the fact has been corroborated
that human beings can be swayed
definitely by odors as well as by sounds
This does not mean the creating of en-
thusiasm such as people are wrought
up to in the theatre, but that in every
day life persons may be made to work
fast or slow, accordingly as they are
surrounded by various odors, or
| oh Of IL,
sounds. 1t is found, for example, that
some men will perform mechanical
work much faster if an odor of violets
pervades the workroom. Others will
work much slower under the same in
fuence. Prof. Tichener was asked il
the writer of this description could be
made to write a story better or worse
if surrounded by some specified odor.
His reply was that the writing of a
story was a very complicated process,
involving many Psychologist conditions.
The mental associations needful Were
likely to be too absorbing. But when
the work was more mechanical in its
nature the case would be different. A
bricklayer could undoubtedly be
swayed in either direction by the sense
of smell. The effects were precisely
the same with sound. Prof. Ticheners S
account of these experiments, as re-
lated to the writer, is as follows:
DISTRACTION.
1T is contended that you can some
times do your work best under a slight
abstraction. That is, if you have every
thing too comfortable, concentration is
not as easy as though you were work.
ing under slight abstraction, as, for in
stance, If some one is playing a piano
nearby. We made number of investi-
cations to see, if possible, what the
actual effect of a distraction is on the
mind which is in state of attention.
We first got attention by making a
long series Of experiments in which the
subject had to judge of two impress
sions given one after another. One test
was made by dropping weights from
different heights onto a scale and hav-
ing the subject note by the sound
whether the weight was falling a
shorter or longer distance. Immense
! g 4.