20
ROBERT CHEN AU LT GIVLER
The graphs f or these experiments showed an entirely new char¬
acter in the visible record of the average of the tappings for all
the subjects. With few exceptions, the rise is only initial, but
not a great deal of importance is to be given to the first group of
five iambics in any of the experiments, because no preliminary
tapping was done by any of the subjects ; they all began to tap and
recite at the same time. The averages of the Be-ni type of ex¬
periment were all below 70 mm.; these are all above 77 mm.;
evidently all the subjects got more familiar with the work. In¬
deed, all of them seem to have by this time passed the period
of the “Anregung,” as can be easily demonstrated from the
tables which are to follow. It remains to be seen whether the
subjects respond to the material of the experiment in such a way
as to furnish correlations between feeling-tone and motor dis¬
charge in point of Mean, Mean variation and Range that will be
of any service in determining the psycho-motor effect of the
speech elements in poetry. Referring to the graphs again, it
appears that the vowel 00 swallows the consonants which pre¬
cede it, and to produce in the drawings the visible effect of OO
rather than of B, M, TH and so forth. It remains to be seen
whether the other vowels to be experimented upon perform this
same usurpative function or not. It will be remembered that
ÖÖ dominated also the introspective consciousness in these
experiments.
The Effect of Long E
The next ten experiments were devised to exhibit the effect of
long E. The unaccented syllable was “la” (given as the Italian
A, but it immediately became the neutral vowel).
In general, the effect of “E” was to produce feelings of tension,
and as a long vowel, it was thought to take decidedly less time
than either O or 00. Some of the subjects tried to “put force
into it,” but did not succeed ; it appeared to cause restraint, rather
than the “expected sense of outward control.” All of the subjects
called its pitch very high and not at all like the effect of most
words containing long E’s. It also appeared to be more modified