Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development Part 22

_Manipulation_.--A tray is taken out, the three weights that it contains is shuffled by the operator who then pa.s.ses them on to the experimenter. The latter sits at ease with his hand in an unconstrained position, and lifts the weights in turn between his finger and thumb, the finger pressing against the top, the thumb against the bottom of the cartridge. Guided by the touch alone, he arranges them in the tray in what he conceives to be their proper sequence; he then returns the tray to the operator, who notes the result, the operator then reshuffles the weights and repeats the trial. It is necessary to begin with coa.r.s.e preparatory tests, to accustom the operatee to the character of the work. After a minute or two the operator may begin to record results, and the testing may go for several minutes, until the hand begins to tire, the judgment to be confused, and blunders to arise. Practice does not seem to increase the delicacy of perception after the first few trials, so much as might be expected.

D.--WHISTLES FOR TESTING THE UPPER LIMITS OF AUDIBLE SOUND IN DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS.

The base of the inner tube of the whistle is the foremost end of a plug, that admits of being advanced or withdrawn by s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g it out or in; thus the depth of the inner tube of the whistle can be varied at pleasure. The more nearly the plug is screwed home, the less is the depth of the whistle and the more shrill does its note become, until a point is reached at which, although the air that proceeds from it vibrates as violently as before, as shown by its effect on a sensitive flame, the note ceases to be audible.

The number of vibrations per second in the note of a whistle or other "closed pipe" depends on its depth. The theory of acoustics shows that the length of each complete vibration is four times that of the depth of the closed pipe, and since experience proves that all sound, whatever may be its pitch, is propagated at the same rate, which under ordinary conditions of temperature and barometric pressure may be taken at 1120 feet, or 13,440 inches per second,--it follows that the number of vibrations in the note of a whistle may be found by dividing 13,440 by four times the depth, measured in inches, of the inner tube of the whistle. This rule, however, supposes the vibrations of the air in the tube to be strictly longitudinal, and ceases to apply when the depth of the tube is less than about one and a half times its diameter. When the tube is reduced to a shallow pan, a note may still be produced by it, but that note has reference rather to the diameter of the whistle than to its depth, being sometimes apparently unaltered by a further decrease of depth. The necessity of preserving a fair proportion between the diameter and the depth of a whistle is the reason why these instruments, having necessarily little depth, require to be made with very small bores.

The depth of the inner tube of the whistle at any moment is shown by the graduations on the outside of the instrument. The lower portion of the instrument as formerly made for me by the late Mr. Tisley, optician, Brompton Road,[28] is a cap that surrounds the body of the whistle, and is itself fixed to the screw that forms the plug. One complete turn of the cap increases or diminishes the depth of the whistle, by an amount equal to the interval between two adjacent threads of the screw. For mechanical convenience, a screw is used whose pitch is 25 to the inch; therefore one turn of the cap moves the plug one twenty-fifth of an inch, or ten two-hundred-and-fiftieths. The edge of the cap is divided into ten parts, each of which corresponds to the tenth of a complete turn; and, therefore, to one two-hundred-and-fiftieth of an inch. Hence in reading off the graduations the tens are shown on the body of the whistle, and the units are shown on the edge of the cap.

The scale of the instrument having for its unit the two-hundred-and- fiftieth part of an inch, it follows that the number of vibrations in the note of the whistle is to be found by dividing (13440 x 250)/4 or 84,000, by the graduations read off on its scale.

A short table is annexed, giving the number of vibrations calculated by this formula, for different depths, bearing in mind that the earlier entries cannot be relied upon unless the whistle has a very minute bore, and consequently a very feeble note.

=================================== Scale Readings Corresponding (one division Number of = 1/250 Vibrations of an inch). per Second ----------------+---------------- 10 84,000 15 56,000 20 42,000 25 33,600 30 28,000 35 24,000 40 21,000 45 28,666 50 16,800 55 15,273 60 14,000 65 12,923 70 12,000 75 11,200 80 10,500 85 9,882 90 9,333 95 8,842 100 8,400 105 8,000 110 7,591 115 7,305 120 7,000 125 6,720 130 6,461 ===================================

[Footnote 28: Mr. Hawksley, surgical instrument maker 307 Oxford Street also makes these.]

The largest whistles suitable for experiments on the human ear, have an inner tube of about 0.16 inches in diameter, which is equal to 40 units of the scale. Consequently in these instruments the theory of closed pipes ceases to be trustworthy when the depth of the whistle is less than about 60 units. In short, we cannot be sure of sounding with them a higher note than one of 14,000 vibrations to the second, unless we use tubes of still smaller bore. In some of my experiments I was driven to use very fine tubes indeed, not wider than those little gla.s.s tubes that hold the smallest leads for Mordan's pencils.

I have tried without much success to produce a note that should be both shrill and powerful, and correspond to a battery of small whistles, by flattening a piece of bra.s.s tube, and pa.s.sing another sheet of bra.s.s up it, and thus forming a whistle the whole width of the sheet, but of very small diameter from front to back. It made a powerful note, but not a very pure one. I also constructed an annular whistle by means of three cylinders, one sliding within the other two, and graduated as before.

When the limits of audibility are approached, the sound becomes much fainter, and when that limit is reached, the sound usually gives place to a peculiar sensation, which is not sound but more like dizziness, and which some persons experience to a high degree. Young people hear shriller sounds than older people, and I am told there is a proverb in Dorsetshire, that no agricultural labourer who is more than forty years old, can hear a bat squeak. The power of hearing shrill notes has nothing to do with sharpness of hearing, any more than a wide range of the key-board of a piano has to do with the sound of the individual strings. We all have our limits, and that limit may be quickly found by these whistles in every case.

The facility of hearing shrill sounds depends in some degree on the position of the whistle, for it is highest when it is held exactly opposite the opening of the ear. Any roughness of the lining of the auditory ca.n.a.l appears to have a marked effect in checking the transmission of rapid vibrations when they strike the ear obliquely.

I myself feel this in a marked degree, and I have long noted the fact in respect to the buzz of a mosquito. I do not hear the mosquito much as it flies about, but when it pa.s.ses close by my ear I hear a "ping," the suddenness of which is very striking. Mr. Dalby, the aurist, to whom I gave one of these instruments, tells me he uses it for diagnoses. When the power of hearing high notes is wholly lost, the loss is commonly owing to failure in the nerves, but when very deaf people are still able to hear high notes if they are sounded with force, the nerves are usually all right, and the fault lies in the lining of the auditory ca.n.a.l.

E.--QUESTIONS ON VISUALISING AND OTHER ALLIED FACULTIES.

The Questions that I circulated were as follows; there was an earlier and uncomplete form, which I need not reproduce here.

The object of these Questions is to elicit the degree in which different persons possess the power of seeing images in their mind's eye, and of reviving past sensations.

From inquiries I have already made, it appears that remarkable variations exist both in the strength and in the quality of these faculties, and it is highly probable that a statistical inquiry into them will throw light upon more than one psychological problem.

Before addressing yourself to any of the Questions on the opposite page, think of some definite object--suppose it is your breakfast-table as you sat down to it this morning--and consider carefully the picture that rises before your mind's eye.

1. _Illumination_.--Is the image dim or fairly clear? Is its brightness comparable to that of the actual scene?

2. _Definition_.--Are all the objects pretty well defined at the same time, or is the place of sharpest definition at any one moment more contracted than it is in a real scene?

3. _Colouring_.--Are the colours of the china, of the toast, bread crust, mustard, meat, parsley, or whatever may have been on the table, quite distinct and natural?

4. _Extent of field of view_.--Call up the image of some panoramic view (the walls of your room might suffice), can you force yourself to see mentally a wider range of it than could be taken in by any single glance of the eyes? Can you mentally see more than three faces of a die, or more than one hemisphere of a globe at the same instant of time?

5. _Distance of images_.--Where do mental images appear to be situated? within the head, within the eye-ball, just in front of the eyes, or at a distance corresponding to reality? Can you project an image upon a piece of paper?

6. _Command over images_.--Can you retain a mental picture steadily before the eyes? When you do so, does it grow brighter or dimmer?

When the act of retaining it becomes wearisome, in what part of the head or eye-ball is the fatigue felt?

7. _Persons_.--Can you recall with distinctness the features of all near relations and many other persons? Can you at will cause your mental image of any or most of them to sit, stand, or turn slowly round? Can you deliberately seat the image of a well-known person in a chair and see it with enough distinctness to enable you to sketch it leisurely (supposing yourself able to draw)?

8. _Scenery_.--Do you preserve the recollection of scenery with much precision of detail, and do you find pleasure in dwelling on it? Can you easily form mental pictures from the descriptions of scenery that are so frequently met with in novels and books of travel?

9. _Comparison with reality_.--What difference do you perceive between a very vivid mental picture called up in the dark, and a real scene? Have you ever mistaken a mental image for a reality when in health and wide awake?

10. _Numerals and dates_.--Are these invariably a.s.sociated in your mind with any peculiar mental imagery, whether of written or printed figures, diagrams, or colours? If so, explain fully, and say if you can account for the a.s.sociation?

11.--_Specialities_.--If you happen to have special apt.i.tudes for mechanics, mathematics (either geometry of three dimensions or pure a.n.a.lysis), mental arithmetic, or chess-playing blindfold, please explain fully how far your processes depend on the use of visual images, and how far otherwise?

12. Call up before your imagination the objects specified in the six following paragraphs, numbered A to F, and consider carefully whether your mental representation of them generally, is in each group very faint, faint, fair, good, or vivid and comparable to the actual sensation:--

A. _Light and colour_.--An evenly clouded sky (omitting all landscape), first bright, then gloomy. A thick surrounding haze, first white, then successively blue, yellow, green, and red.

B. _Sound_.--The beat of rain against the window panes, the crack of a whip, a church bell, the hum of bees, the whistle of a railway, the clinking of tea-spoons and saucers, the slam of a door.

C. _Smells_.--Tar, roses, an oil-lamp blown out, hay, violets, a fur coat, gas, tobacco.

D. _Tastes_.--Salt, sugar, lemon juice, raisins, chocolate, currant jelly.

E. _Touch_.--Velvet, silk, soap, gum, sand, dough, a crisp dead leaf, the p.r.i.c.k of a pin.

F. _Other sensations_.--Heat, hunger, cold, thirst, fatigue, fever, drowsiness, a bad cold.

13. _Music_.--Have you any apt.i.tude for mentally recalling music, or for imagining it?

14. _At different ages_.--Do you recollect what your powers of visualising, etc., were in childhood? Have they varied much within your recollection?

_General remarks_.--Supplementary information written here, or on a separate piece of paper, will be acceptable.