The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-06

would simply be puzzled by 1t, the posi-
tion to be ina gined to be impossible.
They ought to change that question.
Mr.. Doll showed me code, let me
extmine it for half minute and told me
to write Come quickly in It. I got this
correct
Suggestive Words
What is the opposite of good?'
asked Mr.. Doll
Evil"
"Of outside"
Inside"
He asked 20 of these words and
scored correct in all. That passed me as
15-year- old boy.
Then he folded a piece of paper and cut
1t with scissors and asked me to draw
the figure 1t would show when opened
out. l did this all right. but when he
put card on its diagonal, mixed up
the two pieces and asked me to draw
the figures they would show IL the base
of one of the triangles were placed
against the hypothenuse of the other,
failed miserably
1t may have been that Mr. Doll did
not express himself well. it may have
been that I was distracted by the crowd,
or 1t may have been merely my own stu
pidity. l don't know, but my answer was
wrong.
Mr.. Doll asked me, the difference be-
tween the President of republic and
a King the differences between ''pleas-
ure' and "honor" My answers satis-
fed him and passed on those counts.
Then he read me the following, telling
me he would ask me to give him the
substance of 1t Afterwards.
"A big flood last week swept away
five boats full of fish. A little boy, the
son of fisherman, was carried out to
sea. While trying to save him man in
a boat was washed overheard and nearly
drowned. The child was saved
| paid as close attention as I could
with 100 eyes looking into mine and
much chattering going on. cannot now
remember how 1 summed it up, but Mr..
Doll said:
Il could not give you more than 30
per cent for that aswer. as you have
remembered less than half the ideas ex-
pressed in that passage"
Failed Utterly
Ii was little humiliating to fall so
utterly. But. anyway. Just scraped
through my examination and I am offi-
eially certified as having the intelligence
of an average adult.
Then we turned to the machinery.
Mr.. Doll gave me a needle attached to
an electric wire, placed before me steel
plate with nine holes In it, beginning
with one about the diameter of a thick
pencil and ending with one the diameter
of q woman's hatpi1.
without supporting your arm, try to
insert that needle In those holes one
after the other and hold it in each for
five seconds without touching the sides"
1t was easy in the largest four. AS the
holes became smaller it required a steady
rand. / got along famously until | came
to the seventh. Then the needle wabbled
and the fact that it touched the side was
announced to the spectators by a flash
and the clicking of a telegraph instru-
inent.
Just normal" commented Mr.. Doll.
In many kinds of strange machines he
tested the strength of different muscles,
my nerves, my perception of weight and
sound, my resistance to suggestion. The
net result was that l was normal-in all
but that fish storyi
] told bright little boy all about 1t
that night, and he said he would love to
play the game. So the next morning 1
took him to be tested A clever and at
tractive woman named Miss Moore play
ed with him. After writing down his
name and age she began writing the
tests corr ty. Then she showed him
picture, asking: what do you see
there?"
Il see a man chasing some boys down
the steps of house, he replied, cor
rectly for his age. If he had been only
instead of 7 he would II normal, have
said Il see man; I see some chill
dren"-naming the objects in the picture,
and not the action.
Had Steady Nerves
She gave him the needle and the cleo
trlfied steel plate and asked him to insert
the needle. Just as l had done, he got
1t into the first six without click from
the telegraph instrument. AT the seventh
he touched the side and laughed when
the spark and the click announced the
fact.
But on the second and third tries his
hand was steadier and he succeeded The
same was true of the eighth hole. At the
ninth the telegraph Instruments persist
ent chattering told him he had reached
his limit.
Having passed all the tests for seven
years, Miss Moore tried him on those for
eight. First he counted from 20 backward
to one correctly.
Then, "Whats the difference hetween
a fly and a butterfy?" he was asked.
"A butterfly is much bigger
Good said Miss Moore. mo "
what's the difference between wood and
glass?"
Wood is harder. and you can see
through glass"
do you know the months of the year7''
Yes, ne said, and began to repeat
them. But he skipped September and Oc-
tober; therefore he failed on the test,
which is for nine-year-olds
He counted stamps of different denomi-
nations, and repeated numbers 4. I. 8, O.
correctly after Miss Moore. Thus he
passed the eight-year-old test.
Coming to the 9-year-od test, Miss
Moore asked him question about chang
ing money. and he failed. However, he
gave the date correctly, and he arranged
the blocks correctly.
What is a fork?" asked Miss Moore
"A thing that you eat with and has
prongs," he replied.
Definitions ASKED
Other similar definitions followed, and
then:
"How can you tell what mother lisp
"a mother Is a-=a-a-a--niee lady that
-that-gives you things and takes care
of you"
1t is in the way that the child an.
swers these that is the test OF his In
tellect. These definitions of a six-year.
cid differ materially, from, those of g
nine-year-old. This boys were the an
swers of a nine-year-old and thus he
scored three points out of possible five
on the test for that age. In the ten
year-old test he picked out and named
several coins and money in general lsa