ELEMENTS OF SPEECH IN RELATION TO POETRY 125
one to one correspondence which we have sought for in connec¬
tion with our study of the motor energies and the introspective
consciousness both singly and together.
Allied to the characteristic form-quality in the graphs for
each individual poet, especially in the more meaningful lines
experimented upon, is the matter of the tapped strokes as they
appeared upon the smoked paper ribbon. After they had become
accustomed to the tapping, every one of the subjects tapped in
what could be called a thoroughly individual manner. Some
of them tapped slowly and with great deliberation, thereby mak¬
ing a visible record of very rounded loops; others would react
by a very quick down-stroke, followed by a slow, hesitating
up-stroke, while still others would tap strokes that appeared on
the paper as very fine points, or even in some cases would move
the finger so quickly that the pointer climbed the roller on
the up-stroke and returned with sudden relaxation of the rubber
band in such a way as to make a loop in the smoky surface
of the ribbon. And here lies the interesting point: that in the
variously individual records there appeared evidence of all felt
and unfelt changes in the emotional character of the experiments
presented; tenseness of the vocal apparatus as well as the op¬
posite state could be told by the experimenter as well as by
the subject, together with subliminal effects of one sort or
another which the subject did not feel either in summation or
otherwise. Illusions, also, of various character were there
evidenced, such as temporal and numerical ones. In general,
the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the visible record
amply supplemented the introspection in every way.
We have made no special mention of the time element in con¬
nection with most of these experiments. This is because the
graphs are so typical for each and all of the subjects, that indi¬
vidual mention is unnecessary; furthermore, the time element
does not seem to play any very important rôle. It certainly is no
special correlate of any of the affective elements in consciousness ;
and it does not seem to be a manifest index either of difficulty
in the material to be recited or of the number of sounds in the
decasyllabic line. The subjects were all told to take their own