The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-11-09
PULSE And POETRY
PROVEN RELATED
Remarkable Tests Show Tie Be-
tween Verse and Human
Heart.

Berkeley, Nov. "a remarkable set
of experiments todetermine the relation
of poetry to human organism, is being
conducted in the experimental psyeholee
California by Professor James Main
Dixon and Dr.. w. S. Wrinch. These ex-
periments, which were begun some time
ago, are in a field heretofore unexplored
by psychologists. They are of an ex-
Seratv at Berheey IS one ao Of the few
universities in the United States which
possesses apparatus sensitive enough to
record the results Of the work.
Stress and Heart Beats.
Professor Dixon has already discov
Tennyson 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 hui
man heart, and the relation between the
lines Of poetry and the respiration; A
large number Of tests have already been
made, and some provisional conclusions
| have been arrived att but before the
law is fully determined Professor Dixon
thinks it will be necessary to record the
singing of the doxology or some other
song by a whole congregation.
In securing the records to be used in
/ drawing his general conclusion, Profess
sor Dixon and DR.. Wrinch use an ex-
ceedingly complicated machine that rec
ords the pulse beat of the person recit-
i ing the poetry, the stress, the number
Of lines and the respirations and the
time taken. All these results are re-
corded on a smoked record and can be
preserved. ~. ,>....>.r..
Professor Dixon, who is noted Eng
lish scholar and author, and who is here
sis on his work for DOCTORS degree.
I A great deal of interest is being taken
by scholars in the outcome of his re-
searches, and last night he lectured be-
fore the Pathological club, giving the re-
suits obtained thus far. In speaking Of
4 Discovers Emotional Curve.
"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 dis
covered in poems like Browning's sAbt
vogler' and Tennyson;'s The Bridge
Perhaps the most remarkable manifesto
ton of the law discovered was found in
Tennyson g May Queen. It was shown
that three divisions into which the
poem is divided vary in a most decided
manner. The first, giving q mood of
heightened happiness, uses IL per cent
more syllables than the second, which
4 L
third division is in a mood Of resigna-
ton or sorrow and uses per cent less
syllables than the second. . -.
The results thus obtained have been
sent by Professor Dixon to the Royal
society at Edinburg, Of which he is q
fellow.
Stress and Pulse Keep Time.
A further examination to find a
norm for in all poetry-that is, why
some lines should have eight syllables
and others fifteen, and why the lines
| with fifteen should break in the middle
l with a cesula-has been undertaken.
l It is also Professor Dixon g purpose to
| determine what line of poetry is
psychologically. Experiments with the
pulse and throat seem to show that a
tetrameter verse Of our common hymn
| "Doxology, gives this norm, for every
pulse means a stress and every line
means the time between respiration. An
/ experiment with the hymn Crock of
1 Ages comes out regularly sixteen
pulse beats and sixteen stresses; four
respirations and four lines. Before he
is finished, however, Professor Dixon
intends to. record the singing Of whole
congregation on a photographic record
and see if the law holds for great audi.
ences as well as for Individuals
By these experiments Professor Dixon
intends to draw sharply the line be-
tween poetry and prose-. At present il
is almost impossible to tell the real diff
ference between poetry and prose. II
poetry is direct appeal to organism
it has direct connection with breath
4 ing and the heart action, and this con
| nection is to infinitely determined.