Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-04-05
FINAL TEST FOR
ARMY AIRMEN
They Must Have Quick Judg-
ment and Nerves Of Steel.
How French Examine
Candidates
By HENRI BAZIN
Special Correspondent OF the EVENING Ledger
IN France.


at psychometer test I did not kno"
what psychometer was nor that such an
instrument existed. As I walked beside
the uniformed medical friend who had IN
vited me he said:
You are going to assist at something
that makes clear why the French army air.
man Is In SURPRISING average the best III
the world. IT'S the supreme test OF judg-
ment courage and action. You shall see.
"A psychometer." continued my friend.
'is an instrument invented by Doctor Mar
choux, of the French army. / won't explain
IT, You shall sec.''
This story is of what | both heard and
saw.
The psychometer Is used in the case OF
every applicant for service in the Flying
Corps. whether the young man is just enter
ing upon his army service or is one OF the
many French soldiers with leg or Kid
ney buried somewhere in France. who, re-
jectng retirement applies for an air certifi-
cate soon as his wounds are healed.
That he may successfully realize his ambi-
ton, he must be possessed of more than
desire stl to serve his country, pass the
medical examination for sound sight, hear
ing. bronchial tubes, lungs and heart and
prove knowledge of gasoline engines.
Aviators Are Born, Not Made
He must scientifically demonstrate that
he has 'le necessaire," the real essential
to the work he will be called upon to do.
This essential is born in him or 1T isn't
There is many a brave, sound.hearted man
without It, and without it he could not be-
come a successful aviator.
The army engineer has minutes between
perception and action. The advancing in
fantryman. with grenade or bayoneted rifle
in hand has seconds. But the aviator has
but hundredths of seconds in which to COM
bine sight, hearing. resolution and action
Fractions of seconds pass into the mys-
terry of time between our sighting, hearing
or feeling any given thing and the period
when any given thing Is sensed and grasped
by our nervous system when are con-
scious our eye has seem our ear heard, our
body felt. The best aviator is the man who
can reduce this period to the last fraction
OF second. The psychometer not only
notes and measures this space of time in
given candidate. but records also the quail
ity of sang froid and GOODNESS of nerve he
may be possessed of.
The room we entered was severely mill
tary in aspect. Upon the walls hung num-
Der OF Dlack paper charts with more or less
zigZag white vertical lines upon them. and
few maps of the front. wooden bench
that would seat a dozen men. four or five
cane-seat chairs and two tables comprised
its furnishings. Upon the tables were what
seemed to me scientific apparatus of small
dimension.
The candidate just about to be examined
wore the uniform of sergeant of infantry.
He was clean cut about twenty-five years
OF age, and would limp through the rest of
his life from a wound in the thigh. He was
seated before one Of the tables upon which,
at close examination, l saw an electric
chronometer with a dial about ten inches
in diameter divided into hundredths of
second. A single hand maintained position
by electric contact at 100 The whole APP
paratus was hung like ships compass.
Two flexible metal tubes were attached to
1t, One ended in the handle Of a small
hammer held by the examiner. The other
ended in a push button switch held by the
candidate.
Life Hangs on Fractions of Second
Test No. l." said the former when
strike a blow with this hammer on this
table. the contact will be broken and the
hand begins to encircle. The instant you
hear the blow. press the switch, the contact
will be resumed and the hand stops"
The first test showed nineteen. the es.
sential; the second eighteen and the re-
naming eight, eighteen. 1t would take this
would-be aviator eighteenth of
second to see, hear and act. The average
man would consume twenty eight to
thirty five. The second test consisted in re-
peating the performance with the candi-
dates eyes closed. This time he would hear,
but not see. First result. nineteen-hun-
dredths of a second: the remaining nne
eighteen -hundredths Of a second each. The
third test was slight blow with the ham,
Al
tests showed Observation-Disclosures of a second
each.
you'll do, sergeant to drink in the fresh
air up there II your sang froid Is as good as
your psychometrc record" said the ex-
aminer. "Sit at this other table, sill vous
plait"
The instrument was oblong in shape, with
three projecting needles that could trace
white vertical lines upon a fixed trans
parent blackish paper. Three tubes were
attached One ended pneumographically
and encircled the sergeant's body at the
lungs to record the thorax movement. One
was held in the right hand to record the
rgidity Of hold.
The third ended in a vasoconstrictor held
in the left hand. This would record emo
ton telegraphed through stimulation of
blood vessels throughout the body The one
sensation would trace three distinct records
upon the blackish paper. If fear, lack of
nerve or shock would unnerVe, the corre-
spending needle would record zigzag lines.
The less shock the straighter the line. But
the quality of each would be written down
In black and white, than which no more
rigid proof is required in law or fact.
A Man With Nerves of Steel
Intensely interested. and with the certi-
titude that my lines under the test would
be very zigzag at the moment, l waited.
The examiner struck sharply upon the table
with a wooden mallet. The needles drew
three lines about as straight as unprac-
ticed fingers could freehand. Five addi-
tional Impressions recorded a practical sim,
ilarity Of white lines.
"C'est tres bien." said the examiner ;
NOW close your eyes and keep them
closed"
AS the sergeant obeyed the examiner
pulled a revolver from his military blouse,
| and placing the side OF the barrel three
| inches from the candidates nose. pulled the
trigger on its blank cartridge The needles
recorded a slight quickening of the breath
| for the first. five-hundredths of a second
shown in a faint zigzag at the beginning OF
For he of ita in,,r