Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1904-12-15
PULSE AND POETRY.
RELATION OF VERSE TO HUMAN
ORGANISM.
Experiments Being Conducted to Dis
cover Law of Connection Between
Stress in Metrical Compo-
sition and Heartbeat

Berkeley, Gala remarkable set of
experiments to determine the relation
of poetry to human organism is being
conducted in the experimental psy-
chology department of the University
OF California by Prof James Main
Dixon and DR.. w. S. Wrinch. These
experiments, which were begun some
time ago, are l.. rield heretofore un-
explored by psychologists. They are
Of an exceedingly delicate nature, and
the university at Berkeley is one of
the few institutions in the United
States which possess apparatus SEN
sitiye enough 10 record the results of
the work
Prof. Dixon has already discovered
an emotional curve in poems like
Tenryson's The Bridge" Expert
ments are now being conducted to dis
cover law as to the relation between
stress in poetry and the beat of the
human heart, and the relation be-
tween the lines of poetry and the
respiration. A large number of tests
have already been made, and some
provisional conclusions have been ar
rived at, but before the law is fully
determined Prof. Dixon thinks it will
be necessary to record the singing Of
the DoXology or some other song by
whole congregation.
In securing the records to be used
in drawing this general conclusion,
Prof. Dixon and DR.. Wrinch use an
exceedingly complicated machine that
records the pulse beat Of the person
receiving the poetry, the stress, the
number of lines, the respiratons and
the time taken. All these results are
recorded on a smoked record and can
be preserved.
Prof Dixon, who is a noted English
scholar and author and who is here
doing research work, will present a
thesis on his work for a doctors de-
gree. A great deal of interest is be-
ing taken by scholars in the outcome
OF his researches, and his technical
lecture before the Pathological club
giving the results obtained thus far
In speaking OF the experiments, Prof
Dixon said:
The work we are doing now deals
with the expansion and contraction of
lines Of poetry, according to the sub
ject matter, whether it is happy or
sad. An emotional curve has been
discovered in poems like Browning's
'Abt Nogier' and Tennyson's The
Bridge. Perhaps the most remarkable
manifestation of the law discovered
was found in Tenayson's May Queen
1t was shown that the three divisions
into which the poem is divided vary
in a most decided manner. The first,
giving a mood of heightened happi-
ness, uses II per cent more syllables
than the second which is in a mood
of utter depression. The third divi-
sion is in mood of resignation or
sorrow, and uses three per cent. less
syllables than the second"
The results thus far obtained have
been sent by Prof. Dixon to the Royal
society, at Edinburgh, of which he is
a fellow
A further examination to find 4
norm in all poetry-that is, why some
lines should have eight syllabes and
others 10, and why the lines of 10
should break in the middle with a
caesura-has been undertaken 1t is
also Prof. DiXon's purpose to deter
mine what a line of poetry is psyche
logically. Experiments with the pulse
and throat seem to show that tetra-
meter verse of our common hymn
'DOXoIogy" gives a norm. For every
pulse means a stress and every line
means the time between respiration.
An experiment with the hymn, Rock
of Ages" comes out regularly 16
pulse beats and 16 stresses, four res
pirations and four lines.
Before he finishes, however. Prof.
Dixon intends to record the singing
of whole congregation on a phono-
graphic record and see if the law
holds for great audiences, as well as
for individuals. BY these experiments
Prof. Dixon will seek to draw sharp
Iy the line between poetry and prose
At present it is almost impossible to
tell the real difference between the
poetry and prose. If poetry is di-
rect appeal to organism, it has di-
rect connection with breathing and
the heart action, and the connection
is 10 be minutely determined