4 
J. E. Wallace Wallin, 
under which they occur in speech—these conclusions are important as 
affecting the comparison of like syllables under like conditions. The 
conclusion with reference to the time-value of poetical measures, it is 
interesting to notice, is at variance with the conclusions of the two former 
experimenters. 
Meyer,1 in a series of experiments the publication of which appears 
never to have been completed, has measured the syllables and feet of 
spoken verse. An electric tuning fork vibrating 100 times in a second 
recorded the time line on a smoked drum. A Marey tambour registered 
the breath pressure from the mouth. Two trumpet-shaped speaking 
tubes of paper were attached to the tambour by means of a short glass or 
metal tube. One of the speaking tubes was made to conveniently fit the 
mouth cavity ; the other, the nose. The tubes could be used singly or 
in combination. The result of speaking into the tube was to transmit to 
the rubber diaphragm of the tambour a series of waves corresponding to 
the sounds and silences of the utterances. The fluctuation of the dia¬ 
phragm were registered by an amplifying straw lever. Thus the duration 
of the successive explosions of the stream of outflowing air could be 
measured. The successive puffs of air were hypothetically assumed to 
extend over the same times as the successive sounds. 
A further development of the apparatus consisted in connecting a tap¬ 
ping instrument to a recording lever whose point was adjusted immedi¬ 
ately under the point of the tambour. 
The method of taking the records consisted in repeating monosyl¬ 
lables singly or as a series of words, at the same time beating with the 
finger upon the tapping instrument in time with the articulation of the 
syllable at the moment of greatest emphasis ( ‘ ‘ Arsengipfel ” ). The sub¬ 
ject was thoroughly trained in coordinating the time of tapping with the 
time of uttering the words. The attempt was made to make that point 
of the syllable which represented the climax of the energy exerted by 
the vocal organs exactly correspond with the tapping time. This was 
assumed to be possible, for since both processes start from the same 
center the maximum points of force of the two innervations should occur 
synchronously. Thus the tapping mark upon the drum, regardless of 
where it occurred in the course of the sound, represented the point at 
which the energy of the syllable was the highest. 
The object of the investigation was twofold: (i) to determine the 
point of highest energy of single syllables beginning with different con¬ 
sonants, such as pha, fha, ha, za,f>na, etc. ; (2) to investigate the meter 
of German verse. 
1 Meyer, Beiträge zur deutschen Metrik, Neuere Sprachen, 1898 VI 1-37 ; 122-140.