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{"created":"2022-01-31T12:51:30.780057+00:00","id":"lit28755","links":{},"metadata":{"alternative":"Studies from the Yale Psychological Laboratory","contributors":[{"name":"McAllister, Cloyd N.","role":"author"}],"detailsRefDisplay":"Studies from the Yale Psychological Laboratory 8: 21-63","fulltext":[{"file":"p0021.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"RESEARCHES ON MOVEMENTS USED IN WRITING\nBY\nCloyd N. McAllister, Ph.D.\nThe experiments to be reported here were carried out during the academic year 1899-1900.\nI. Relative ease of upward and downward movements.\nThis investigation was begun by a series of experiments arranged to determine the relative ease of movements of abduction and those of adduction. It was thought that the ease would be shown by the rapidity of the movement.\nFor convenience in describing the movements made, the usual mathematical conventions were adopted. If the intersection of the X and Y axes be the center about which a radius may revolve, the circle generated will be divided by the axes into four quadrants. When the moving radius is coincident with the right-hand portion of the X axis, it is said to be in its initial position ; the yt angle it now makes with this part of the X axis is o\u00b0. As it is revolved counter-clockwise the angle it makes with its initial position is increased until it gets back to its initial position again, when it may be said to have generated an angle of 360\u00b0 ; the quadrants of the circle are named I, II, III and IV, in the order in which the moving radius has passed through them (Fig. 1). Movements of the right arm in writing which follow the direction of the radii of quadrant I are movements of abduction, those of quadrant\nIII\tare movements of adduction.\nMost of the movements used in writing are those which may be defined as movements following the direction of the radii in quadrants I and III. All the old systems of stenography use movements in quadrant\nIV\tto a great extent, but the movements in quadrant II are rarely, if ever, used. The backward movements, in stenography which sometimes appear to lie in quadrant II, are arcs of a circle or of an ellipse, made by a backward swing.\n21","page":21},{"file":"p0022.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"22\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nA. Large movements.\nFirst series of experiments.\nThe apparatus involved, first, a pair of contacts previously used for measuring the velocity of arm movements.1\nOn a horizontal rod, forty centimeters long, the ends of which were clamped to standards made of a vertical rod fastened in a heavy iron base, were placed two metal blocks, D and D\u2019 of Fig. 4. Each of these blocks carried a light bamboo rod, Cand C, held in a vertical position, in small revolving clamps. A slight touch on one of these rods caused it to fall, and in so doing, to make an electrical contact for an instant. The rod could be made to fall in one direction only. These two contacts were arranged parallel to each other and in series with a Deprez marker. The distance between them was such that the hand used to knock down the rods must move through a distance of ten centimeters from the time the first contact was made until the second one was made.\nTwo horizontal rods, one on each side of the perpendicular rods whose movement formed the contacts, and at a distance of one and three-tenths centimeters below their tops, when they were upright, acted as a rest for the finger before beginning the movement, and as a guide during the movement. By this means all the subjects were compelled to move the hands in the same direction and in the same horizontal plane. It was not intended that the hand should bear on these rods in the movement, and this did not occur. In moving the hand rapidly from rest, the tendency was to raise it slightly and sometimes it was raised enough to be carried over the top of the second bamboo rod, not touching it at all. This occurred when the subject permitted his attention to lag.\nThe subject stood in a comfortable position before a desk that could be adjusted so that the lines of the mov\u00e7ment to be made, lay in a horizontal plane slightly below the elbow. This position of the plane of the movements was found necessary in order to permit a free movement of the whole arm.\nA large cardboard was placed on the top of the desk and lines drawn thereon to mark the positions for which the apparatus must stand for the angles o\u00b0, 150, 30\u00b0, 45\u00b0, 60\u00b0, 750 and 90\u00b0 of quadrant I, and 1800, I95\u00b0> 2100, 225\u00b0, 240\u00b0, 2550 and 270\u00b0 of quadrant III ; the purpose of which was that the apparatus might be in the same relative position with the body in all of the movements, and for all the subjects. In these two\n1 Scripture, New apparatus, Stud. Yale Psych. Lab., 1895 III 106 ; also The New Psychology, 166, London 1897.","page":22},{"file":"p0023.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n23\nquadrants the apparatus had the same relative positions for the corresponding angles ; the end that was near the body for quadrant I was away from the body for quadrant III. The subject was required to make the movements with the palm of the hand down, the hand closed, except that the forefinger was extended.\nMovements in quadrant I, were easily made without any tendency on the part of the subject to increase the speed by the aid of movements of the finger. In the latter part of quadrant III, however, it was found that either the wrist would have to be turned in an awkward manner toward the body in order to move the bamboo rods, or the palm of the hand would be turned toward the body, thus allowing the finger to take the form of a hook with which to pull down the bamboo rods ; in this position a movement of the finger, like that of closing the hand, increased the speed of the movement.\nA paper cartridge shell was used as a cap for the finger. A wire soldered on the brass head of the shell formed a hook ; slits in the paper tube of the shell permitted it to be used by subjects with a large finger ; a small rubber band around the tube caused the sections to lap and so fit closely to the fingers of the subjects having small hands ; it also bound the cap so closely to the finger, that it did not slip during the movement. The subject had this cap on his finger during the entire experiment.\nThe apparatus was so placed that the middle point of the distance between the bamboo rods was on a line perpendicular to the front of the body, and half way between the middle of the body and the right side. Its distance from the body was constant, except for the slight oscillating movements of the subject during the experiment. The distance was such that the elbow hung freely by the side of the body when the finger wasjn position to begin the movements of quadrant I, or at the end of the distance measured for the movements in quadrant III.\nEach time the electrical contact was made by the movement of one of the bamboo rods the marker recorded the fact on a drum, which, for convenience, was turned by a small electric motor. The drum used is one previously described by Dr. Scripture.2 On the large base supporting the drum is an upright standard which may be moved along the drum by means of a screw turned by the hand. A bed carefully planed and parallel to the axis of the drum guided the movement of the standard.\nA fork interrupted the current from a four-amp\u00e8re battery 100 times a second. This was made to pass through the primary coil of a spark coil. The secondary coil was connected at one pole with the base of the drum,\n1 Scripture, The New Psychology, 85, London 1897.","page":23},{"file":"p0024.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"24\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nand at the other pole with the marker. The line produced by the marker was in this way divided by sparks, the distance between the successive sparks representing the time of one vibration of the fork. The number of such spaces between the two records made by the marker for each movement of the arm, gave the number of hundredths of a second consumed in the movement. With some practice it became quite easy to divide these spaces by the eye into tenths, thus permitting the record to be given in thousandths of a second. A specimen record indicating sixty-two thousandths of a second is shown in Fig. 2.\nThe subject was requested to place his right hand so that the first finger, with the cap upon it, should rest on the horizontal bars close to the\nFig. 2.\nfirst upright bamboo rod, but not touching it ; thus the forearm and hand formed a straight line, the elbow hanging freely by the side of the body.\nAt the signal \u201c ready \u201d he prepared himself to make as rapid a movement as possible in the direction of the line joining the tops of the bamboo rods, moving the joints of his elbow and shoulders only, and allowing his elbow to hang close to the body. At the signal \u201cgo\u201d he executed the movement.\nCare was taken to see that the distance at which the finger was placed from the bamboo rods before beginning the movement did not vary for the different individuals. When each subject, in the several preliminary trials before a record was taken, indicated the distance he would most naturally use, he was cautioned that a change of this distance would decrease or increase the time required to pass through the distance between the two rods, according as he began the movement with the finger farther from, or nearer to, the first rod ; and in order that his record might be of value to us he must aid us in keeping this condition the same throughout the experiment. This distance did not exceed one centimeter.\nWhen the signal \u201cready\u201d was given, the marker was moved slowly along the drum until after the movement was executed by the subject ; the movement of the marker was then stopped ; the subject raised the bamboo rods to the vertical position and placed his hand in position for making another movement.","page":24},{"file":"p0025.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on move7nents used in writing.\n25\nFive movements were recorded at intervals of 150 throughout quadrant I, beginning at o\u00b0. Five records were then taken for, corresponding angles in quadrant III, beginning at,i8o\u00b0, and then beginning at 270\u00b0 and reversing the order, thus obtaining ten records for each angle used in quadrant III. Five records more were then taken at intervals of 150 throughout quadrant I beginning at 90\u00b0 and reversing the order of taking the first records. Ten records were thus obtained for each angle used in quadrant I.-\nEach subject removed his coat and right cuff before beginning the experiment, so that the sleeve or cuff might not strike against the standards or guiding rods. But even with this precaution there was found some difficulty in making the movements in the latter parts of both quadrants. The subjects complained that the apparatus interfered with a free movement.\nRecords were taken from eight persons with this apparatus. Two of the subjects, however, changed their positions in standing and the position of the hand with reference to the first rod to such an extent that it was decided to make no use of their records. Of the other six persons, the average of whose records are given in Table I, two, A and B, are Japanese, and two, C and D, are American students in the graduate department of this university. Their ages are between twenty-three and thirty years. One, E, is a freshman in the academic department, whose age is nineteen years, and one, F, is a college graduate, at present superintendent of a department in a large factory in this city ; his age is thirty-four years.\nThe columns in Table I that are headed P. E., contain what may be called the \u2018 \u2018immediate probable errors. \u2019 \u2019 These are calculated by the usual formula\nP. E. = \u00a7\n3 \\l\n+ v* + - + vn\nwhere zt, v2, \u2014 , vn are the differences between the individual measurements and the average, and n is the number of measurements. This value is a measure of the uncertainty of the subject-.\nThe probable error of the average, or \u201cfinal probable error\u2019\u2019 is obtained by dividing the immediate probable error by v'\u00ab\u2022 This indicates that the subject may be expected with a probability of to give results in\nP. E\na series of measurements that would not exceed his Av. +\u20147=\n\u2022\tv n\nnor be","page":25},{"file":"p0026.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"2 6\nCloyd IV. McAllister,\nTable I.\nFirst qttadrant.\no\u00b0\t150\t300\t450\t6o\u00b0\t750\nSubject Av.\t\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP.E.\nA\t31-3\t5-i\t26.1\t2.2\t27.9\t2.0\t3\u00b0-3\t6.6\t45-5\t3-4\t42.6\t2.0\t45.7\t3-4\nB\t57-7\t8-5\t45-2\t3-0\t46.9\t4.2\t49.2\t5-2\t67.2\t13.0\t90.9\t8.6\t93-3\t58\nC\t88.1\t8.9\t82.8\t9-7\t95-8\t8-5\t109.3\tI3-I\t95. i\t6.8\t\u25baH 0 Cn b\t6-3\tiio.i\t11.8\nD\t29.6\t3-o\t28.4\t1.7\t26.9\t2.8\t26.1\ti-5\t31.8\t2.1\t45-\u00b0\t5-i\t45-5\t2.4\nE\t57-9\t4.6\t65-7\t5-2\t83-7\t8.4\t82.4\t4-5\t89.4\t6,1\t87.0\t7.2\t98.0\t8.4\nF\t64.9\t18. i\t49-4\t6.8\t48.3\t5-7\t53-7\t4.8\t56.8\t3-6\t57-9\t6.1\t68.0\t7.2\nAv. 54.8\t8.0 44.6 4.8 54.8 5.6 Average for quadrant I, 60.7 ; average\t\t\t\t\t\t\t58.8 5.9 64.3 probable error, 6.\t\t\ti.\t71-4\t5-9\t76^8\t6^5\nThird quadrant.\n1800\t1950\t2100\t2250\t2400\t2550\nSubject Av.\t\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv. P. E.\tAv. P.E.\t\nA\t37-o\t3-3\t32.7\t1.9\t33-7\ti-7\t35-1\t0.6\t38-4\t3-i\t42.9 5.1\t47-5\t4-5\nB\t46.8\t2.7\t55-8\t5-6\t55-7\t4-5\t57-9\t6.1\t62.8\t4.6\t67.7 8.7\t79-9\t7-7\nC\tq iL O H\t14.4\t94.4\t9-5\t103.6\t16.5\t98.6\t9-5\t109. i\t11.2\t100.0 7.1\tO b\t7.0\nD\t27.4\t2.6\t28.4\t4-3\t26.9\t0.7\t26.1\ti-7\t31-8\t0.7\t45.0 1.5\t45-5\ti-7\nE\t76.6\t7-7\t74-7\t12.3\t89.7\t5.0\t92-3\t5-8\t100.0\t13-5\t100.9 6.4\t107.8\t9 5\nF\t52.9\t1.9\tS0.8\t4.2\t51.0\t3-6\t54-6\t35\t59-7\t4-1\t65.0 4.8\t68.8\t4-7\nAv.\t68.0\t5-2\t56.3\t6.1\t60.0\t5-6\t61.4\t5^\t67.2\t6^6\t69.1 5.6\tVO\t6.6\nAverage for quadrant III, 65.2 ; average probable error, 5.6.\nUnit of measure, <7 = 0.001\u201c. Av., average of 10 experiments. P. E., immediate probable error.\nIt will be seen from the table that, with the full arm, and under the conditions of our experiment, the movements in quadrant I are made more rapidly than those in quadrant III, except for the angles of 750 and 90\u00b0 ; the movements at the angles of 2550 and 270\u00b0 of quadrant III are more rapid.\nThe probable errors for movements of quadrant III are, on the average, smaller than for those of quadrant I. This seems to indicate that though these movements are less rapid, they are more regular. In quadrant I, subjects A and E do not follow the general law as expressed by the curve, namely, that the time required to make the movement for the angle of 150 is less than that required for o\u00b0. This lack of conformity to the general rule is noticed in quadrant III in the record of subject B.\nIf a line be drawn on the horizontal plane that lies just below the elbow (not more than two and one-half centimeters below) so as to form an angle of 150 with the intersection of this plane with the plane of the front of the body, this line will indicate the direction of the movement","page":26},{"file":"p0027.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n27\nthat can be made with greatest ease by the right arm, under the conditions of the experiment. The movement along that line toward the body, being a little slower than the movement from the body.\nThe results in Table I are shown graphically in Fig. 3. The abscissa denotes the relative size of the angles ; the ordinate shows the relative\nFig. 3.\ntime. The dotted lines show the results of quadrant III ; the solid line those of quadrant I. For the sake of comparison, the movements of quadrant III are represented as movements of adduction along the radii of the corresponding angles of quadrant I.\nThe two upper curves show the average time consumed in the movements, the lower curves the probable errors.\nThe curves of the probable errors show them to be nearly constant ; the variations are small.\nSecond series of experiments.\nThe following change in the apparatus was planned. Well seasoned white pine was glued together in three thin layers\u2014the grain of the two outside layers being parallel, and that of the middle layer being at right angles to this direction. From this a disc was turned, A of Fig. 4, thirty-three centimeters in diameter. A disc, F, of pine one centi-","page":27},{"file":"p0028.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"28\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nmeter thick was cut of the same size as the above and fastened to that one by means of four posts, G, two centimeters by two and one-half centimeters and ten and one-half centimeters long. Two of these posts were placed with their centers diametrically opposite; the other two were placed with one edge on the diameter perpendicular to the diameter joining the first two posts.\nBy gouging out a small groove across the second pair of posts, on the side in a line with the diameter, it was possible to fasten to them the rod, E, which held the metal blocks, D and D', carrying the bamboo rods, C and C, so that it would hold the bamboo rods directly over this diameter.\nThe turned disc was used for the upper one and in it was cut a slit, B, nine-tenths of a centimeter wide and twenty-three centimeters long. Its\nFig. 4.\nmiddle point is at the center of the disc. This slit being placed over the line joining the bamboo rods, permitted the rods to be raised and lowered with perfect freedom. The rods were made to extend one and three-tenths centimeters above the top of the disc when standing upright.\nA wire in the form of a rectangle, not shown in the figure, sixteen and one-half, centimeters long and three and one-half centimeters wide, with a wire rod soldered across it parallel to the ends and ten centimeters from one end, was fastened under the top disc by means of guides on each side so that it might be drawn backward and forward under the slit. A small rubber band fastened to the end of the rectangle ten centimeters from the cross rod, and to the disc near its circumference and in line with the slit, held the frame near that end of the slit and against two small nails that were used as stops.","page":28},{"file":"p0029.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n29\nThe bamboo rod which must be struck first when standing was but a short distance from the end of the frame nearer the cross rod ; but, when it was caused to fall, it fell in the direction of the cross rod, and, although it fell completely below the surface of the disc, was prevented by it from falling down entirely. The other end of the frame performed this service for the other bamboo rod.\nBy means of a cord running through a screw eye the frame could be drawn toward the other end of the slit, raising the bamboo rods as it moved until it was stopped by two nails in a position such that the bamboo rods were standing upright and ready to make another record. The cord being released, the rubber band returned the frame to its former position where it was ready to catch the bamboo rods again.\nThe top part was removed from a school desk and in its place there was put a flat desk open in front and back. The top was of the same size as that of the original desk, when the lid was raised to make a flat desk of it, extending sixty-six centimeters from right to left and fifty-three and one-half centimeters from front to back. A circular hole was carefully cut in this top of a size to permit the turned disc to revolve with very little friction. The center of this hole was thirty-three centimeters from the ends and from the front of the desk top. The depth of the desk was such as to permit the other disc to rest on the bottom, while the desk and the turned disc were flush on top. A-bolt, H, through the center of the lower disc and the bottom of the desk served as an axis for the discs to turn upon. With the aid of a bicycle wrench the desk could be raised or lowered. The chair accompanying the desk was also adjustable.\nWith the apparatus in this condition each subject could be seated comfortably, and the height of the desk could be made suitable for him. The subject was requested to sit in an upright position ; the desk was adjusted so that the top was slightly below the elbow.\nThe subject reacted to the signals as before, but his whole attention was given to knocking the rods down ; they were raised into position each time by the observer by means of the device explained.\nThe contacts were connected as before, parallel to each other and in series with the Deprez marker. The battery wires are indicated by 1 and 2. The middle point of the distance between the two bamboo rods was at the center of the discs.\nT he top disc was divided into angles of fifteen degrees ; these angles were marked with their values from o\u00b0 to 3450, according to the mathematical convention mentioned above ; a mark on the top of the desk at the edge of the hole made it possible to adjust the disc for any angle desired.\t\u2019","page":29},{"file":"p0030.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"30\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nWith the apparatus arranged in this manner records were taken on ten persons for the same angles, and in the same order as in the preceding experiment. Three of these subjects, A, D, K, were graduate students ; one, /, a senior ; two, / and Z, freshmen ; \u2019two, F and M, mechanics ; one, G, a teacher in a commercial college ; one, H, a high school student.\nTable II contains the averages for these subjects.\nTable II.\nFirst quadrant.\n\t\t0\u00b0\tI;\t5\u00b0\t3\u00b0\u00b0\t\t45\u00b0\t\t6o\u00b0\t\t\t75\u00b0\t90\u00b0\t\nSubject Av.\t\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP.E.\nA\t59-i\t5-9\t52.6\t3-5\t42.X\t2-5\t46.6\t4-i\t52.2\t9-3\t56.6\t15.2\t66.1\t10.6\nD\t52.7\t3-i\t46.2\t2-7\t44.I\t2.2\t40.8\t2-S\t42.2\t2-5\t48.7\t3-1\t57-3\t5-3\nF\t92.4\t7.8\t86.3\t8.1\t85-3\t6.6\t73-7\t6.1\t75-9\tS-o\t78.9\t3-6\t81.0\t4-9\nG\t73-6\t6.6\t64.8\t8.4\t51-3\t7-5\t60.2\t2.9\t80.9\t9.0\t88.5\t6.1\t93-2\t6.7\nH\tS6.3\t9.1\t48.4\t3-9\t40.3\t4.0\tS\u00b0-5\t5-7\t42-3\t2-7\t45-8\t2-5\t42.0\t2-5\nI\t89.4\t6.4\t86.9\t13-1\t76.1\t13-7\t73-7\t9-9\t90.8\t17.6\t77-2\t8.2\t77.0\t9-3\nJ\t76.2\t8.4\t77-4\t6.2\t68.5\t7-7\t53-4\t7.0\t55-5\t6.5\t58.5\t6.4\t60.4\t2.6\nK\t93-1\t12.6\t83.2\tI3-S\t76.8\tS-S\t80.8\t5-o\t73-o\t2.7\t83-4\t6.7\t81.4\t6.1\nL\t53-9\t5-4\t50.1\t2.7\t43-4\t3-i\t43-4\t2.9\t44-S\t4-5\t49.1\t5-7\t47.8\t4.4\nM\t95-1\t7.6\t80.2\t4-3\t69-S\t2.4\t66.8\t4-3\t71 i\t5-9\t76.9\t5-6\t88.4\t5-6\nAv.\t74.2\t7-3\t67.6\t6.6\t59-7\tS-S\tS9-0\t5-o\t62.7\t6Z\t6fo4\t6-3\t69-5\t5-8\nAverage-for quadrant I, 65.4 ; average probable 1\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\terror,\t6.1.\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThird\tquadrant.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t1800\t\t195\u00b0\t\t210\u00b0\t\t2250\t\t2400\t\t2<\t>6\u00b0\t270\u00b0\t\nSubject\tAv.\tP. E\t. Av.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP.E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\tAv.\tP. E.\nA\t66.4\t9.4\t53-7\t5-3\t49.8\t4-5\t53-2\t6-3\t46. i\t3-5\t51-3\t6.9\t75-7\til.8\nD\t35-1\t2.8\t31-9\t2.6\t35-i\t3-i\t37-3\t3-6\t38.8\t2.3\t38.8\t2-4\t51-7\t2.8\nF\t63-4\t2.9\t68.2\t9.8\t59-7\t4-9\t55-4\t3-i\t63.6\t7.0\t'61.3\t4-4\t66.9\t3-5\nG\t46.6\t2-3\t48.8\t6.8\t46.7\t3-3\t47-4\t2.7\t49.0\t2-5\t59-4\t5-3\t65.1\t4-7\nH\t37-7\t6-3\t34-o\t2-3\t35-0\t2.7\t38-5\t3-7\t38.9\t2- S\t45-i\t3-5\t52.1\t3-7\nI\t58.6\t5-7\t62.2\t4-3\t60.5\t8.2\t72.2\t5-8\t70.8\tIO.9\t69-5\t6.6\t74.0\t4.6\nJ\t45.8\t5-4\t48.0\t4-3\t50.4\t4-9\t46.5\t4-3\t48.5\t5-7\t54-2\t7-4\t61.2\t6-5\nK\t74.2\t5-7\t64.2\tS-S\t62.3\t7-5\t60.5\tS-2\t58-5\t7-9\t61.6\t3-9\t56.2\t3-3\nL\t35 \u2022 3\t1.6\t29.8\t1.6\t28.4\t2.2\t27.7\t1.0\t33-4\t0.8\t37-3\t2.7\t50-5\t3-1\nM\t91 \u2022 7\t10.7\t67.6\t4-7\t64-3\t3-3\t69.9\t5-4\t73-4\t7-4\t95-2\t7-i\t90.6\t5-6\nAv.\t55-5\t5-3\t50-9\t4-7\t49.2\t4-5\t5\u00b0-9\t4-1\t52.1\t5-i\t57-4\t5-o\t64.4\t5-o\nAverage for quadrant III, 53.9 ; average probable error, 4.8.\nUnit of measurement, <r = o.oois. Av., average of 10 experiments. P. E., imme-diate probable error (p. 25).\nThis table shows a difference of 11.5* between the averages for all the angles of each quadrant in favor of movements in quadrant III. These","page":30},{"file":"p0031.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n31\nmovements require but 82 % of the time necessary for the movements in quadrant I. The probable error is 8.9% of the average result for quadrant III and 9.6 \u00b0Jo of the average result for quadrant I ; so that the movements of quadrant III are not only more rapid but also more regular. The control over these movements must then be somewhat more in quadrant III than in quadrant I.\nThe greatest importance for this investigation lies in the relative rapidity, rather than in the absolute speed ; but it may be of interest to note here that the probable error of the determination varies between 3* and 5.5'.\nIn Table I the angles of greatest speed of the two quadrants were corresponding angles of the quadrants. In Table II that is not the case.\nFig. 5.\nIn quadrant I the greatest speed was attained at the angle of 45 \u00b0; in quadrant III at the angle of 210\u00b0.\nThese results are shown graphically in Fig. 5. As in Fig. 3 the movements of quadrant III are represented as movements of adduction along the radii of the corresponding angles of quadrant I. There is here no crossing of the curves. A glance is sufficient to show that the movements of adduction require less time than the corresponding movements of abduction.\nIhe dotted lines show the results of quadrant III ; the solid lines those of quadrant I.\t\u2019","page":31},{"file":"p0032.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"32\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nThe two upper curves show the average time consumed in the movements, the lower curves the probable errors.\nThe results in quadrant I seem to indicate that the lowest point of the true curve showing the speed of movement in this quadrant must be between 30\u00b0 and 450 ; in quadrant III, however, the lowest point of the curve would seem to beat just 210\u00b0. The lines of greatest speed of movement in the two quadrants when extended, though they do not coincide, are at most not more than io\u00b0 apart.\nThe number of the experiments is not great enough to warrant any positive statements as to what the true law of the motion may be. It is natural to suppose that, were the experiments more extended, it would be found that the angles of greatest speed in the two quadrants are corresponding angles, as was found in Table I. It must be noted that the most rapid movements are not in the middle of the quadrant, but rather at the end of the first third of the quadrant.\nThe curve of the probable errors is also shown in Fig. 5. The variation in the probable errors is small and they will hereafter be considered as constant.\nTable II shows that the probable errors of quadrant I average 6.1er or 9.6% in the average time for all the angles ; those of quadrant III average 4.8^01 8.9% of the average time for all the angles.\nThis difference in favor of quadrant III shows that the movements of adduction are more to be relied upon ; they are not only more rapid but are easier to make.\nThe form of the curve attracted attention immediately, and Dr. Scripture suggested that it might be a sinusoid. In order to determine the complete curve, records were taken on ten subjects in all four quadrants\u2014the apparatus being the same as before.\nThird series of experiments.\nThe subjects experimented upon in this series were E, G and /of the preceding series, and N, P, Q and R, students of the graduate' department ; O, a boy of fourteen years, and S and T, mechanics.\nIn this series, five records were taken for each angle marked on the disc, beginning at 0\u00b0, and then five more, reversing the order of the series.\nThe averages for the different angles for each subject are given in Table","page":32},{"file":"p0033.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\t33\nTable III.\nSubject\to\u00b0\t15\u00b0\t3\u00b0\u00b0\t45\u00b0\t6o\u00b0\t75\u00b0\t90\u00b0\ti\u00b05\u00b0\t120\u00b0\t13s0\t1500\t165\u00b0\nE\t84.0\t70.3\t78.5\t76.2\t76.3\t79-7\t87.0\t86.5\t94-5\t94.0\t101.4\t87.5\nG\t69.2\t51.8\t45.6\t46.9\t43-3\t61.9\t76.1\t82,6\t85.8\t78.5\t74.2\t65-5\nJ\t55-5\t51.0\t49.0\t60.2\t73-7\t72.0\t72.8\t80.7\t74-4\t79-3\t69.7\t63.0\nN\t5\u00b0-3\t39-2\t34-6\t34-9\t4\u00b0. 5\t46.9\t5.1.0\t58.8\t59-0\t59-2\t58.2\t53-o\n0\t60.6\t57-7\t57-7\t44.8\t49.4\t50-3\tS2-7\t\u00d44-S\t72.8\t77-9\t72.4\t63-5\nP\t55-5\t55-4\t51-5\t47-3\t54.2\t55-3\t62.3\t62.7\t65.8\t60.6\t61.7\t46.9\nQ\t66.0\t63.4\t55-2\t60. i\tS\u00b0-7\t61.6\t65-3\t67.7\t81.6\t82.1\t75-8\t78.1\nR\t53-i\t46.0\t35-i\t36-4\t38.4\t37-3\t65.7\t64.8\t67.6\t82.3\t70.5\t68.1\nS\t48-5\t41 2\t36.\u00b0\t32-7\t32.2\t43-8\t49-3\t52-5\t58.8\t54-3\t45-2\t34-S\nT\t37-4\t32-3\t28.5\t26.0\t2S-i\t28.7\t34-4\t34-4\t38.8\t42.8\t38.7\t32.8\nAv.\t58.0\t50.8\t47.2\t46.6\t48.4\t538\t61.7\t65-5\t69.9\t71-1\t66.8\t59-3\nSubject 1800\t1950\t2100\t2250\t2400\t255\u00b0\t2700\t285\u00b0\t3000\t315\u00b0\t3300\t345\u00b0\n\u00a3\t64.4\t64.2\t60.0\t62.4\t64.8\t62.7\t80.9\t92-3\t97-4\t89.9\t9\u00b0-S\t74-4\nG\t49.6\t45-1\t40.9\t43-8\t40.1\t47-7\t57-6\t59-5\t61.0\t71-1\t74-1\t69.0\nJ\t58.0\t55-6\tS\u00b0-5\t61.0\t56.1\t65-3\t59-8\t68.0\t55-3\t72.4\t82.6\t74.0\nN\t49.4\t37-o\t31-4\t31-7\t35-2\t37-8\t48.8\t56-4\t56-3\t57-4\t55-8\t59-8\n0\t52.0\t47-7\t47-7\t47.0\t45-5\t53-2\tS3-1\t63-1\t76.8\t75-4\t77.2\t75-\u00b0\nP\t42-5\t42.2\t49.8\t49.1\t58.2\t62.3\t56.2\t66.1\t73-7\t71.0\t68.3\t68.7\nQ\t55-o\tS5-\u00b0\t53-3\t52.5\tS3-1\t61.5\t68.3\t75-3\t83.6\t84.7\t88.4\t78.5\nR\t69.7\t36-5\t33-7\t42.2\t37-6\t37-8\t40.2\t45-5\t45.8\t53-8\t60.7\t64:2\nS\t31-4\t33-1\t32.3\t35-5\t40-3\t43-1\t48.8\t48.7\tSo-1\t50.4\t47-7\t44-4\nT\t26.5\t22.1\t25.0\t24.1\t24.9\t29-3\t3\u00b0-4\t32.8\t36.6\t41.i\t40.1\t40.7\nAv.\t49-9\t43-9\t42.5\t44-9\t45-6\t50.1\t54-4\t60.8\t63-7\t66.2\t68.5\t64.9\nAverage\t\tfor quadrants\t\tI and\tII, 58.3; average for quadrants III and\t\t\t\t\t\tIV,\t54-6 ;\naverage for all angles, 56.4.\nUnit of measurement, a \u2014 0.001s.\nThe results are very much such as might be expected from a study of Table II.\nI he average for all of the angles is 56.4\u00b0\u2019, while that of quadrants I and II is 58.3^ and quadrants III and IV is 54.6<r. Movements in quadrants\nFig. 6.","page":33},{"file":"p0034.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"34.\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nIII and IV are, then, easier than those in quadrants I and II or, in other words, movements toward the body are more rapid than those from the body.\nHere again it is noticed that the most rapid movements are a little before the middle in the quadrants I and III.\nFor a complete comparison of movements toward the body with those from the body in all directions, the movements in quadrants III and IV may be considered as movements toward the body along the radii of quadrants I and II, respectively, and the results plotted as shown in Fig. 6. The abscissa then shows the relative size of the angles of quadrants I and II ; the ordinate the time consumed in the movement.\nThe dotted line shows the results for quadrants III and IV ; the solid line those for quadrants I and II.\nIn Fig. 7 the movements are considered as independent. The abscissa shows the size of the angle from o\u00b0 to 345\u00b0. The solid line in this figure shows the results of Table III.\nThe curve of results as shown in Fig. 7 would indicate that the lowest point in quadrant I must lie between 30\u00b0 and 45 \u00b0, and in quadrant III very near 210\u00b0.\nThe highest point of the curve is at the angle 135\u00b0, or the middle of quadrant II ; but in quadrant IV the highest point is at 330\u00b0, or is beyond the middle of this quadrant.\nThe similarity to a sinusoid is immediately noticed in the curve, with slight distortion to the right. This distortion suggested that the element of practice or fatigue might have entered because of the manner of taking the records in so long a series.\nNaturally the speed of the subjects would improve after the first few angles, due to practice, and, along toward the close of the hour required to take the record, fatigue might have shown itself in a diminished speed, especially in quadrant I, where the least practice would be shown.\nFourth series of experiments.\nTo eliminate this error due to practice or fatigue, if it existed, it was decided to take records on ten persons, for the same angles, but to vary the order. The order chosen for the first five records on each angle was o\u00b0, 90\u00b0, 1800, 270\u00b0, 150, 105\u00b0, and so forth, that is the angles formed by the moving radius when coincident with the X and Y axes, or the beginning of each quadrant ; then for the four angles that are 15\u00b0 larger, respectively, than the four angles just taken, and so on, to the angle 3450 for the next five records this order of the angles was reversed.","page":34},{"file":"p0035.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches o?i movements used in writing.\n.35\nThe subjects were G, O, P, Q, R and S of the preceding list, A and F of series one and two, FH of series two, and U, the janitor of the\nlaboratory.\nThe results are shown in Table IV.\nSubject\t: o\u00b0\t15\u00b0\t30\u00b0\t45\u00b0\tTable 6o\u00b0\t750\t\tIV. 900\t105\u00b0\t120\u00b0\t13s0\t150\u00b0\t165\u00b0\nA\t56-4\t51.0\t54-8\t51.2\t42.0\t59-8\t65.9\t71.9\t75-3\t78.9\t82.0\t447\nF\t87.4\t80.6\t57-9\t61.5\t67.I\t743\t69.9\t75-6\t78.8\t74.8\t88.6\t95-5\nG\t47.8\t447\t36.8\t41.i\t46.9\t49.9\t62.0\t77.1\t749\t75-2\t75-6\t543\nH\t50.1\t46.1\t38.5\t37-7\t45-2\t48.9\t52.6\t48.3\t51.2\t541\t44.0\t37-2\nN\t60.7\t58.1\t55-5\t48.9\t52.0\t55-7\t71.6\t72.3\t73-9\t68.2\t70.2\t59-8\n0\t55-9\t48.5\t43-2\t48.7\t47.2\t55-5\t61.3\t61.3\t67.7\t66.7\t67.8\t56.6\nP\t54-9\t48 1\t47-4\t50-3\t42.0\t52.8\t53-3\t58-4\t69.9\t63-5\t61.7\t46.6\nQ\t59-4\t49-3\t46.4\t44.1\t52.2\t65.1\t74.1\t77.8\t81.4\t80.5\t71.8\t70-5\nR\t4M\t41-7\t37-1\t34\u00b0\t32-4\t40.4\t46.6\t46.6\t57-6\t59-5\t58.8\t5o-\u00ef\nS\t59-3\t55-6\t48.8\t5I-I\t43-3\t50.7\t52.4\t66.8\t71.1\t84.9\t69-3\t68.9\nAv.\t57-3\t52.4\t46.6\t46.9\t47-0\t55.0\t61.0\t65.6\t70.2\t70.3\t69.0\t58.4\nSubjecl\t: 1800\t19 5\u00b0\t210\u00b0\t225\u00b0\t240\u00b0\t255\u00b0\t270\u00b0\t285\u00b0\t3OO0\t3150\t330\u00b0\t345\u00b0\nA\t45-o\t43-4\t53-4\t56-6\t543\t547\t59-i\t62.7\t69-3\t72.8\t66.9\t66.8\nF\t57-6\t48.3\t52.5\t59-9\t55.6\t57-2\t69.4\t78.5\t81.4\t80.3\t88.4\t86.0\nG\t44-9\t43-9\t38.8\t43-3\t47.0\t54.8\t58.x\t60.0\t65.0\t67.0\t75-2\t63-9\nH\t36.8\t35-1\t38.2\t41.0\t43-i\t47-7\t46.2\t49-7\t55-7\t58.9\t55-3\t53-8\nN\t42.8\t46.1\t45-4\t49.2\t51-8\t54-5\t64.4\t62. X\t67.6\t67.9\t63-7\t64.0\n0\t443\t41.2\t43-1\t47-3\t50.1\t53-6\t58.2\t61 9\t63-1\t69.2\t57-7\t65.0\nP\t42.4\t36.0\t38 9\t47-5\t39-6\t46.4\t50.2\t60.0\t59-8\t64.1\t61.7\t59-9\nQ\t42-5\t42.1\t49-5\t48.9\t52.7\t545\t63-7\t63-7\t63-9\t62.2\t65-4\t59-7\nR\t30.2\t29.2\t29 5\t36.1\t38.1\t44.2\t46.6\t53-4\t55-7\t58.4\t50-5\t55-2\nS\t42.3\t45-2\t43-3\t42.6\t47.6\t45-5\t60.8\t69.7\t65-4\t70.4\t75-6\t62.8\nAv.\t42.9\t411\t43-3\t47.2\t48.0\t540\t57-7\t62.2\t64.7\t67.1\t66.0\t63 7\nAverage for quadrants I and II, 58.3 ; average for quadrants III and IV, 54.6 ; average for all angles, 56.4\nUnit for measurement, <r \u2014 o.ooiB.\nThe individual results do not correspond exactly with those of the preceding table, but the averages for quadrants I and II, for quadrants III and IV, and for all the angles together, are respectively equal. In both tables they are 58.3\u00b0\", 54.6<r and 56.4^, respectively.\nFig. 7 shows the results of this table graphically. For the sake of comparison, the results of Tables III and IV are shown together in one figure.\nThe dotted line in this figure shows the results of Table IV.\nThe regular crossing and recrossing of the curves of Tables III and IV is very noticeable in quadrants I and II. The influence of fatigue and","page":35},{"file":"p0036.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"36\nCloyd N. McAllister,\npractice that it was thought might be eliminated, if actually gotten rid of, was not sufficient to account for the declination of the axes toward\n15 30 4 5 60\t75 90\t105 120 135 150 l\u00ea5 180 195 210 225 240 255 270 285 300 315 330 3<I5\nFig. 7.\nthe right, for there is even more declination in the curve of Table IV than that of Table III.\nFig. 8.","page":36},{"file":"p0037.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n37\nIt seems to be beyond question that the free full arm movements in a horizontal plane\u2014the forearm being horizontal\u2014are made more rapidly toward the body than away from it.\nFor the sake of presenting the results of Table III to the eye in a manner such that it will be possible to fix in mind the relative speed of movements in the various angles in which they were made, the results have been plotted on a circle in Fig. 8. The distances along the radii are proportional to the time required to make the movement in that direction.\nAs this figure lies before the reader, he can see at a glance, in what direction the movement is most easily made.\nIf quadrant I be taken as the standard, we find that quadrant II requires for the average of all movements, 30% more time; quadrant III, 10% less time, and quadrant IV, 25% more time.\nThe slowest movements are in quadrant II.\nFifth series of experiments.\nThe results found in the preceding experiments indicate the directions in which we might expect the hand to move if one were asked to make some long strokes with a pen ; that is, should one be asked to make some sloping lines rapidly, it would be expected from the preceding results, that he would move the hand in the direction of the radius of an angle of about 30\u00b0 for strokes of abduction and of about 210\u00b0 for strokes of adduction.\nVertical lines would tend to slope toward the right, rather than toward the left, when made by upward or abduction movements ; that is, they would fall over into quadrant I, where the movements are more easily made.\nDown strokes, or adduction movements would, if meant to be vertical, incline more toward quadrant III than quadrant IV, for the same reason, d 0 test this point, the following experiments were made.\nA vibrating bar or fork interrupted the current from a four-amp\u00e9re battery, which was connected with the primary coil of a spark coil ; the secondary coil was connected with a pen at one pole, and at the other pole with a writing board devised by Dr. Scripture This writing board consisted of a sheet of metal, A in Fig. 9, fifty-three and one-half by thirty-seven centimeters, set in a frame, with a board back ; a binding post, C, at one corner, furnished the means of connecting the electric wire, 1. A wooden pen holder, D, had a hole drilled lengthwise through the handle ; a wire, 2, running through this hole was soldered to the metal end which holds the pen. A small rubber tube,","page":37},{"file":"p0038.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"38\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nas a means of insulation, enclosed the pen holder. A common writing pen could be inserted in the holder and removed at will. The wire connecting the pen holder with the spark coil was of sufficient length to permit of its resting over the shoulder as the subject was using the pen.\nAs the pen was placed near the writing board, sparks, caused by the interrupting of the current, passed from the pen to the board. Drum paper, heavily coated with smoke while on a drum, was then cut to the\nFig. q.\nsize fifteen centimeters by twenty-four centimeters and pasted, at the four corners only, to the writing board. The position of the paper is indicated by the small rectangle, E. As the pen was drawn rapidly over the paper, the sparks made dots that divided the line into equal intervals of time.\nFig. io shows a part of a record made by Dr. Scripture. A vibrating bar interrupted the current twenty-five times per second, so that the distances between the successive dots were passed over in one twenty-fifth of a second. This cut is reduced to one-fifth of the actual size of the record.\nThe subject in my experiments was seated before a table ; the writing board with its lower edge resting on the table was supported by a heavy block in such a manner that Fig. io.\tit formed an angle of 30\u00b0 with the\ntable. A circle, B, divided by the X and Y axes into four quadrants, and with lines bisecting the quadrants, was drawn on the writing board, just above the position of the paper. A fork interrupted the current one hundred times per second.\nThe subject was requested to make five lines in the direction of each of","page":38},{"file":"p0039.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n39\nthe radii as drawn on the circle. The length of the lines was not limited. A sample record, full size, with an arrowhead indicating the direction of the movement, is shown in Fig. 11.\nThree of the subjects\u2014C, of the first series of experiments ; D, of the first and second series ; and X\u2014are graduate students in the university, and G of the second and third series, a commercial college teacher. By\nFig. it.\nmeans of lines marked on the writing board, it was possible to place the paper in exactly the same position for all the subjects.\nAfter the records were varnished and dried they were each fastened to a drawing board so as to be in the same relation to the edge of the board as they had been to the edge of the table.\nThe drawing edge of a T-square formed the base line for the protractor ; and in this way the slope of the lines was easily and rapidly read off.\nAs the lines were not limited in length, the time of making the whole lines could not well be considered, but the distance of three centimeters was taken as nearly in the middle of the lines as could be estimated by the eye, and the time consumed in moving this distance was read. One-third this time was recorded as the time consumed in passing over one centimeter for the movement by which that line was made. As found by Binet and Courtier 1 the greatest speed of a movement was at the middle of the line drawn. By taking the greatest speed for each line, a fair means of comparison was obtained. The lines varied in length from about four centimeters to nine centimeters. The shorter lines were made in quadrants II and IY, and the longest at the beginnings of quadrants I and\ndable V shows the average time consumed in moving one centimeter\nBinet et Courtier, Sur la vitesse des mouvements graphiques, Revue Philosophique, 1893 I 664.","page":39},{"file":"p0040.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"40\nCloyd JV. McAllister,\nfor each direction, by each subject ; also the average slope of the lines actually drawn for each slope intended.\nTable V.\nTime.\nSubject\t0\u00b0\t45\u00b0\t90\u00b0\t135\u00b0\t1800\t2250\t27O0\t3tS\u00b0\nc\t28.6\t32.2\t44.4\t57-6\t25.2\t27.4\t37-6\t45-8\nD\tH-2\tII.O\tI4.4\t20.2\tI3.2\tI4.6\t16.8\t15.6\nX\t21.2\t30.2\t32.6\t53-4\t21.4\t36.6\t39-4\t43-2\nG\t18.6\t24.8\t36-4\t43-2\t17.8\t24.2\t33-6\t36.\u00b0\nUnit of measurement, cr = 0.001s.\nSlope.\nSubject\t0\u00b0\t45\u00b0\t90\u00b0\t135\u00b0\t180\u00b0\t225\u00b0\t2700\tSts0\nc\t6.2\t38.0\t61.6\t139-2\t188 2\t212.4\t246.0\t310.8\nD\t8.0\t34-2\t79.2\t160.4\t191.6\t221.2\t256.0\t341-8\nX\t3-o\t46.8\t104.0\t133-6\t186.0\t239-4\t271.8\t306.6\nG\tS-o\t26.6\t71.4\t155-4\t187.6\t220.4\t252.4\t3*3-\u00b0\nUnit of measurement, 1\u00b0.\nThe preceding tables showed that the movement at about 450 was more rapid than that at o\u00b0.\nIn this table, for the second subject only, we find more rapidity in the angle 450 than for o\u00b0. The slope of the disk is doubtless the cause of this change. As was found in the preceding tables, the slowest movement is about 135\u00b0.\nThe movements in the angle 225\u00b0 for the preceding tables is more rapid than those of 1800, but in the case of every individual in this table, the opposite is true.\nThe tendency to incline the direction of the lines toward that quadrant or part of the quadrant where the easiest movements are made, is shown in the second part of Table V in the results of all the subjects except the third one. This record was obtained from the observer himself. He had noticed this tendency on the part of the other subjects, and a conscious effort to move more nearly in the exact direction indicated, resulted in the line being inclined in the opposite directions in the cases of the lines intended for 45\u00b0, 90\u00b0, r35\u00b0, 225\u00b0, 270\u00b0 and 3150.\nThe lines for o\u00b0 and 1800 show the same tendency as the records of the other subjects ; this, doubtless, is due to the fact that the observer did not notice any such tendency for these lines until he had begun to measure their slope.","page":40},{"file":"p0041.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n41\nB. Small movements.\nFirst series of experiments.\nThe apparatus in the form used for the above experiments was not suitable for determining the speed of movements of smaller extent: In order to measure the time of movement for the distance of one centimeter for the angles of the four quadrants as in the preceding experiments, the following change in the apparatus was made.\nThe rod carrying the metal blocks, the revolving contacts and the wire frame used to raise the bamboo rods were removed from the desk.\nA brass tube, C of Fig. 12, of three centimeters in outside diameter and twelve centimeters long, was suspended from the center of the upper\ndisc by an axle on a pivot, E, five and four-tenths centimeters from its top end, in such a manner that it might be caused to swing in the line of the slit only ; the top end extended one-fourth of an inch above the top of the upper disc.\nA T-shaped support, G, carrying adjustable contacts, F and F', on the arms of the T was fastened to the lower disc, so that, as the tube suspended from the upper disc was made to swing, these contacts would be in the plane of the movement.","page":41},{"file":"p0042.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"42\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nThe contacts were so adjusted that from the time the lower end of the tube, in making one swing, touched the first, until it touched the second one, the top end of it had passed through the distance of one centimeter. As in the arrangement of the apparatus used before, the contacts were connected in parallel to each other, and in series with the Deprez marker.\nThe time of movement was registered on the drum for both directions of the swing of the tube. Stops, D and D '/were placed in the slit of the upper disc so that the tube might swing just beyond the contacts. The entire distance through which the top end of the tube might swing was one and four-tenths centimeters'. As the tube was caused to swing in one direction the time of the movement through one centimeter was recorded for that direction. As it was moved back the direction of the movement was i8o\u00b0 from the direction previously taken.\nThe subject was seated at the desk as before, with the exception that now the elbow rested on the desk. The desk was so adjusted, however, that the arms were close to the body, when the subject sat in an upright position.\nIn the place of the pen point, a wire, B, was loosely hinged to a com^ mon pen-holder. The subject held the pen-holder in any manner he chose. The wire upon it was permitted to slide into the tube ; the end of the pen-holder rested lightly on the top of the tube.\nWith this arrangement it was possible to move the tube back and forth in the same manner as one might make lines with a pencil in the required directions.\nThe subject was requested to make movements forward and backward as rapidly as possible with the full arm, allowing the elbow to rest on the table and not making any movement of the joints of the fingers or wrist. The term, full arm movements with rest, will be used to denote these movements. Some of the subjects held the wrist flat, resting the arm on the cushion formed by the group of muscles just below the elbow. Most of them, however, took a more comfortable position of the wrist, allowing the palm to be turned toward the body, so that there was not so much of a cushion of muscle on which to rest the arm.\nThe forward movements were always in the direction of the radius for the angle used, while the backward movements were in the direction of the radius for the corresponding angle of the quadrant opposite.\nAt the signal \u201cgo\u201d the subject made the first motion forward and back and continued to make them as rapidly as possible until signalled to stop. Records were made in this way for each angle marked on the disc as before.\nOf the records for the angle o\u00b0, the first, third, fifth and so forth, were","page":42},{"file":"p0043.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n43\nfor the forward movements, the second, fourth, sixth and so forth, for the backward movements, or, for the angle i8o\u00b0. So for each angle the odd numbered records gave the time for the movement in that direction, and the even numbered records the time for the movements i8o\u00b0 from this angle.\nIn reading ten records for each angle, the five odd numbered ones were placed in the column for that angle, and the five even numbered ones in the column for the angle r8o\u00b0 larger. The angles of the first two quadrants then produced five records for each angle of the four quadrants, and the angles of the last two quadrants furnished the other five records for each angle ; thus ten records for each angle were obtained.\nTable VI shows the averages of the results of nine subjects.\nTable VI.\nSubject\to\u00b0\t15\u00b0\t3\u00b0\u00b0\t45\u00b0\t6o\u00b0\t75\u00b0\tgo\u00b0\t105\u00b0\t120\u00b0\t135\u00b0\t150\u00b0\t165\u00b0\nA\t33-6\t28.6\t29.7\t27.0\t28.6\t33-9\t35-6\t42.0\t39-6\t39-3\t39-o\t34-9\nD\t21.2\t21.1\t19.6\t22.4\t21.8\t23-4\t26.3\t29-3\t3LS\t28. I\t28.5\t26.5\nF\t44-7\t27-3\t29.7\t34-5\t43-8\t49-3\t5LI\t68.5\t63-3\t61.5\t56-4\t49 -9\nG\t29.7\t25.6\t21.1\t23.2\t25.8\t27.4\t3\u00efr\t34-9\t3\u00b0-7\t32.0\t31.2\t30-9\np\t26.4\t22.7\t\u00ef7.i\t20.3\t23-4\t29.7\t34-1\t31.6\t33-4\t38.5\t36-7\t32.9\nQ\t35-o\t3\u00b0-4\t30.0\t32.8\t36.1\t35-8\t38.3\t42.3\t41.4\t47-3\t42.8\t38.1\nR\t32-7\t24-5\t23.9\tto Cm CO\t28.5\t31-8\t33-9\t32.8\t34-o\t35-3\t32.7\t29.9\nV\t23.6\t22.8\t27-5\t29-3\t33-6\t29.9\t38.8\t37-7\t41.4\t41-3\t42.5\t35-3\nW\t32.2\t28.2\t24-5\t25.2\t26.8\t28.4\t32.0\t33-4\t35-2\t41.4\t38.3\t33--6\nAv.\t31.0\t25.7\t24.8\t26.7\t29.8\t32.2\t35-7\t39-2\t38.9\t40.5\t37-6\t39-5\nSubject\t1800\t19s0\t210\u00b0\t225\u00b0\t24O0\t255\u00b0\t27O0\t285\u00b0\t3\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\t315\u00b0\t33\u00b0\u00b0\t345\u00b0\nA\t31-5\t28.4\t28.9\t3\u00b0-4\t33-9\t34-8\t40.1\t41.9\t38.6\t39-7\t38.4\t34-2\nD\t21.6\t21.3\t19.6\tI9-S\t24.4\t27.1\t3\u00b0.i\t29.2\t30.6\t3\u00b0-4\t26.2\t25.6\nF\t39-i\t28.2\t30.8\t32.2\t42.7\t45-7\t47.0\t58.4\t56.2\t57-6\t55-3\t51.0\nG\t29.6\t23.6\t20.5\t20.7\t27.1\t29.2\t33-3\t37-4\t35-4\t36.6\t34-3\t33-1\nP\t29.2\t22.0\t17.1\t20.4\t23.0\t30.2\t34-9\t32.1\t312\t.35-7\t35-5\t37-7\nQ\t38.3\t31-8\t31.0\t32-4\t35-2\t37-2\t38.0\t38.3\t39-6\t44-4\t42.9\t41.0\nR\t32.6\t26.3\t21 3\t22.8\t32.1\t32-3\t34-6\t32.7\t34-1\t37-1\t34-6\t26.9\nV\t26.3\t25.0\t32-3\t33-3\t36.8\t40.0\t00 CO\t39-9\t45-5\t47 2\t43-1\t33-6\nw\t31.6\t27.4\t26.\t26.2\t28.2\t30.2\t33-0\t33-8\t35-8\t39-9\t36-7\t39-S\nAv.\t\u2014\t\u2014\t\u2014\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2014\t-\t\u25a0 11-\t\t\t\t\n\t311\t26.0\t24.2\t26.4\t31-5\t34-i\t36.S\t38.2\t38.6\t41.0\t38.6\t35-8\nAverage for quadrants I and II, 33.1; average for quadrants III and IV, 33.0 average for all quadrants, 33.1.\nUnit of measurement, ct = o.ooi8.\nThe subjects were A, D, P, Q, R, V, graduate students, F, a mechanic, G a teacher of a commercial college, and W, a college freshman.\nThese movements are very nearly the same as those recorded in the two preceding tables, and the results resemble those somewhat. There","page":43},{"file":"p0044.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"44\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nis, however, this difference : the movements for all angles of quadrants I and II average 33.1<r, while those of quadrants III and IV average 33. o0-. Without doubt, this very slight difference is due to chance. That is, movements towards the body have no advantage over those from the body when the freedom of the full arm movement is restrained by resting the\n~ 3\u00d6 45 6\u00d6 75 90\t105 120 135 150 165 18\u00d4 195 210\nFig. 13.\narm on the muscle below the elbow. The most rapid movements are, as before, found to be at the end of the first third of quadrants I and III.\nThe results in Table VI are shown graphically in Fig. 13. The curves are plotted in the same manner as those of Fig. 7. The ordinate shows the relative time consumed in the movement, the abscissa, the size of the angle. The solid line shows the results of Table VI.\nSecond series of experiments.\nAs originally planned, there were ten persons tested in the preceding experiments on full arm movements with rest. The same ten persons were then requested to make movements as before, but with the fingers and wrist, not allowing the full arm to move.\nRecords were obtained from nine of them, but the tenth one, the janitor of the laboratory, found his fingers too stiff to permit of ease of movement. Five trials were made upon him. He wished to make the movements rapidly, and in order to do so would change the position of the arm so much, that it seemed impossible to class his records with those obtained from the other subjects. In order that a comparison might be made between the full arm movements with rest, and the finger-wrist movements, the records of but the nine were given in Table VI.\nThe records for these nine persons in the finger-wrist movements are given in Table VII.\nFig. 13 presents these results graphically; for the sake of comparison, the results of Table VI are shown in the same figure. The dotted line in that figure shows the results of Table VII.\nTable VII gives an average of 38.8\u00b0- for the first two quadrants and","page":44},{"file":"p0045.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\t45\nTable VII.\nSubject\to\u00b0\t15\u00b0\t3\u00b0\u00b0\t45\u00b0\t6o\u00b0\t75\u00b0\t900\t105\u00b0\tI200\t1350\tISO0\t165\u00b0\nA\t26.9\t26.8\t24.7\t23-9\t24.O\t25-9\t29.1\t28.0\t31-1\t32-3\t32.2\t33-6\nD\t26.6\t26.8\t26. I\t24.4\t28.0\t28.8\t34-2\t33-8\t37-6\t36.8\t40.4\t36.1\nF\t32.6\t33-5\t3\u00b0. 2\t28.8\t29.O\t32.0\t36-9\t42.6\t44.0\t40.4\t44.O\t40.8\nG\t28.5\t26.3\t30.1\t29.9\t39-8\t39-6\t31-4\t41.8\t42.6\t43-\u00b0\t41.4\t41.0\nP\t35-9\t3\u00b0-9\t43-2\t4I-S\t38.1\t38.2\t37-8\t43-9\t43-8\t47-5\t48.9\tSo-1\nQ\t44.2\t37-2\t37-2\t33-8\t36.6\t37-7\t41.1\t47.8\t48-5\t51.0\t47.6\t44-5\nR\t28.2\t3'-S\t26.5\t3I-3\t36-9\t39-i\t46.6\t48.6\t46.4\t52.4\t51-2\t43-i\nV\t41.4\t38.6\t32.9\t311\t36.2\t35-3\t43-3\t45-i\t46.9\t45-6\t44.6\t44 4\nw\t45-o\t51-3\t5\u00b0-7\t52.7\t52.1\t53-o\t57-2\t57-3\tSi-i\t50.8\t48.4\t54-9\nAv.\t34-4\t33-7\t33-5\t33-o\t35-6\t36-S\t39-7\t43-3\t43-6\t44-4\t44-3\t43-2\nSubject\t1800\t195\u00b0\t210\u00b0\t225\u00b0\t24O0\t255\u00b0\t270\u00b0\t285\u00b0\t300\u00b0\t31s0\t3300\t345\u00b0\nA\t24.8\t23-9\t25-7\t23.8\t24.9\t24.8\t25-7\t25-4\t26.7\t28.1\t27.8\t28.3\nD\t26.9\t27.4\t26.1\t24.9\t3\u00b0-9\t31-6\t35-3\t37-8\t36-5\t39-2\t39-6\t38-3\nF\t36-9\t33-2\t32.0\t26.8\t310\t32-S\t32.9\t35-2\t39-3\t39-1\t38.6\t35-8\nG\t26.7\t25.9\t29.4\t38-5\t47.6\t40.1\t47-8\t48.5\t45-4\t44.0\t42.0\t41.6\nP\t35-i\t32-S\t42.7\t46.8\t3S-6\t40.4\t42.8\t41.6\t52.6\t52.6\t50.1\t46.6\nQ\t45-r\t32-5\t311\t3\u00b0-7\t30.6\t34-o\t39-o\t45-i\t44-9\t5\u00b0-1\t42.3\t43-3\nR\t27.6\t32.1\t25-5\t29.1\t34-1\t47-5\t38.2\t40-5\t42.5\t43-6\t39\u00b0\t38-3\nV\t44-9\t40-5\t37-8\t30.4\t29.7\t26.3\t32.8\t36-3\t39-7\t43-2\t41.1\t41-5\nW\t56.7\t43-5\tS3-1\t56.4\t52.0\t56.3\t55-7\t54-2\t49.0\t50.8\t5\u00b0. 7\t53-0\nAv.\t36.1\t32.4\t33-7\t34-2\t35-2\t37 \u00ef\t38-9\t40-5\t41.8\t43-4\t42-4\t4\u00b0-7\nAverage for\t\tquadrants I\t\tand II, 38.8;\t\t; average for quadrants III and\t\t\t\t\tIV,\t380;\naverage for all quadrants, 38.4.\nUnit of measurement, 0 = 0.001s.\n38. \u201d for the last two. This is a greater difference than was found in Table VI, but, as in all the tables, excepting the first one, that difference is in favor of movements toward the body.\nThe full arm movements with rest average for all the angles 33. ia ; the finger-wrist movements average for all the angles 38.417 ; hence, there is greater ease in the full arm movements with rest. The difference is 5.3\u00b0', that is, the finger-wrist movements are t6% more difficult,\u2014or, at least, require 16% more time than the full arm movements with rest.\nThe slowest movement with the fingers and wrist required 44.4 \u201d [\u201835\u00b0] i the quickest 32.4er [2100] ; for the full arm movements with rest, the same angles required 40.5er and 24.2<r. This shows a loss of 3.9er and 8.2 a respectively in the finger and wrist movements, or of 9.6% and 33.8% respectively. It will be noticed that the movements compared here are those for corresponding angles. Should a comparison be made between the vertical strokes of the finger-wrist movements, and the movements at about 30\u00b0 of the full arm movements with rest, as Wood-","page":45},{"file":"p0046.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"46\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nworth 1 has done, we would find the advantage in favor of the full arm movements with rest to be 14.9\", or, 60.1% of the time required for the full arm movements with rest. This is greater than he found it to be.\nFig. 14 shows the results of Tables VI and VII plotted after the manner of Fig. 8. The dotted line represents the time for the finger-wrist\nFig. 14.\nmovements, the solid line that for the full arm movements with rest. The distances along the radii show the relative time consumed in the movements.\nII. The natural slant of the oval.\nSince it is impossible to draw a circumference of a circle by one sweep of the hand or arm, the figure formed must be an oval, and one of its diameters longer than the others.\nHas the longest diameter of ovals, made in the attempt to draw a circle, a definite direction for each individual, or, does the direction vary so that no definite angle can be expected ?\n1 Woodworth, The accuracy of voluntary movement, Psychological Review. Monograph Supplement, 1899, III, 109.","page":46},{"file":"p0047.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n47\nThe style of writing is due very largely to training. Should the ovals of persons trained to write, especially of adults, be examined, we would expect to find the slant of the oval to be the same as that of the principal strokes in their writing.\nIf some particular slant rather than another is natural to man, it seems that it should be observed in the ovals made by the untrained.\nDo children who have never been taught to write, but who know what a ring is, when trying to make a ring, make an oval whose \"slant \u201d is 90\u00b0, or is the slant more, or is it less than 90\u00b0 ?\nThrough the kindness of Dr. Stewart H. Rowe, Principal of the Lovell District in New Haven Public Schools, it was possible to obtain some ovals from thirty-nine children in the Lovell kindergarten.\nThese children had not been taught to write, but had used the pencil and brush for drawing. They have been permitted to hold the pencil as they pleased, no special form being taught them. The brush is held much higher than the pencil, but aside from being told to hold the brush nearer the top, there were no instructions in regard to the manner or holding it.\nThe children were seated at tables eight feet long and sixteen inches wide ; the tables differed in height ; the lowest was nineteen and one-half inches, the highest twenty-one inches ; the tops were divided by lines parallel to the sides of the table into one inch squares. The chairs used were from ten and one-half inches to twelve and one-half inches high. The children were seated as comfortably as it was possible to seat them with such chairs and tables. The smaller children were placed at the lower tables.\nlhe tables did not permit an ideal position in writing. Some of the elbows, when lying on the tables, were much too high for ease in writing. Usually in such cases the child would stand up or rest his weight on one knee on the chair in order to get a more comfortable position for making the movements.\nI here were two classes in the school ; one present during the morning session, and one in the afternoon session. The morning session began at nine o\u2019clock and closed at fifteen minutes after eleven.\nT he classes were each divided into two sections. Each section was seated in a different part of the hall used for the school. Three tables arranged in the form of a quadrangle, with the chairs outside of the quadrangle and the teacher\u2019s table within, made it possible for the chil-dien to all face the teacher and be quite near her, as she stood by the table.\n-he teacher of the second section was following out her regular program","page":47},{"file":"p0048.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"48\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nwhile the teacher of the first section was directing her pupils in the work to be done for the experiment.\nA lead pencil and a sheet of manilla paper of the size nine and one-half by eleven and one-fourth inches were placed on the table before each child in the first section. The paper was placed in front of the middle of the body, one of the short sides being on the first line of the table.\nThe teacher then said : \u201c Now children, this man has come to see us to-day and he wants us to make some little rings on the paper. We must be sure to keep the edge of the paper on the first line in front of us. We must not move the paper at all ; we must keep that real still j and now we will make some rings for him, about as big as a penny, as big as my ring\u201d\u2014showing the children her ring.\nThe children were carefully watched and if there was any tendency to move the paper, a weight was placed on it at the upper left hand corner. If this did not prevent its moving, the teacher or the experimenter would hold it with the hand.\nAfter at least ten rings had been made by each, the papers were marked with the name of the child who had made the ovals upon it, and with signs to indicate the form of movement used, and collected, and other papers of the same quality and size distributed ; these papers had each a ring of 1.4 centimeters stamped upon it near the top. The line forming the ring was five-tenths of a millimeter in width.\nThe children were again cautioned to keep their papers on the lines and to hold them still; then they were asked to make some rings like the rings on the paper.\nAfter a number of rings had been made by each child\u2014using the same precautions as before to see that the paper had been held in one position while making them\u2014the papers were marked as before and collected.\nA third piece of paper like the first one, a brush and a small glass containing a water color were then placed before each child ; the children were now asked to make small rings with the brush ; the size, \u201cas big as a penny \u2019 \u2019 was asked for.\nAfter marking and collecting these papers, a fourth paper was given them like the second, with the ring stamped on it near the top, and they were now asked to make rings with the brush just like the ring on the paper.\nThese papers were marked as before ; and, after collecting them, this section of the class was kept busy with the regular work, and ovals were made by the second section in the same manner.\nWhile the first section were making the ovals, the second section had sung and played with building blocks. No work had been done with a pencil or brush.","page":48},{"file":"p0049.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n49\nThe work of making the ovals was begun at fifteen minutes after nine and completed at fifteen minutes after eleven ; as this was the time for the session to close, the pupils were then dismissed.\nThe session for the afternoon class was from half after one to fifteen minutes after three. The entire time was required to get the ovals. The class was divided into two sections as before, and the ovals were obtained in the same way as at the morning session.\nThere were twenty present in the morning class. One of this class refused to do as requested, so his papers were not used. The papers of two of the twenty-two children present in the afternoon were not used for the same reason.\nThe thirty-nine papers used were gone over carefully and lines drawn through the ovals in the direction of the longest diameter. The judgment by the eye was sufficient to determine the longest diameter in most of the ovals ; in a very few cases the difference was so slight that it was deemed best to apply a graduated scale.\nThe observer had taught geometry for five years ; his familiarity with geometrical figures was such that illusions of length produced in him by intersecting lines or the figures ordinarily used to demonstrate such illusions were very small as compared with the average person. This qualification, perhaps, made him better suited than the average person for doing this sort of work.\nThe papers were each fastened to a drawing board, square with the board and in the same relative position as to the observer as they had been to the child.\n1 he drawing edge of a T-square determined the base line for a protractor, and the angles of the lines of the longest diameters, previously drawn, were in this way rapidly measured. The angles were measured according to the convention mentioned above (p. 21), the right hand portion of the Xaxis being considered as the initial position, and the radius moving counter clockwise.\nSome of the papers contained only ten ovals and some many more. Iwo papers contained as many as thirty-nine ovals each. As it was impossible to make a selection of the ovals, in every case all the ovals were measured on each paper.\n1 he average for each paper is shown in Table VIII.\nThe first and third sets, A and C, of the ovals were considered as hav-ln\u00b0 t>een made with freedom. Certainly it would be impossible to make the children understand what was wanted of them in any manner that \" \u00b0u^ Put less constraint upon them. Limiting the size to about a penny, \u00b0r the size of the finger ring, was necessary to prevent making them so","page":49},{"file":"p0050.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"5\u00b0\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nlarge that it would be impossible to get a sufficient number oi ovals on the paper. In most cases the size was nearer that of a silver half dollar or three centimeters.\nTable VIII.\n\t\tPencil.\t\t\t\tBrush.\t\t\n\tA.\t\t\tB.\tc.\t\t\tD.\nSubject\tAv.\tP.E.\tAv.\tP.E.\tAv.\tP.E.\tAv.\tP.E.\nI\t80.4\t33-3\t116.9\t25-5\t72.7\t25-7\t70.3\t16. i\n2\t83.8\t26.5\t95-8\t15-9\tin.9\t28.2\t68.3\t18.2\n3\t71.6\t25-7\t73-i\t17.2\t88.4\t23.6\t99-7\t19-3\n4\t38-9\t26.4\t57-8\t28.3\t7i-3\t41.9\t38.5\t27.6\n5\t107-3\t20.6\t99-7\t31-4\t76.4\t18.6\t72.9\t24.6\n6\t62.3\t21.2\t76.2\t17.8\t82.8\t29.6\t67.8\t28.0\n7\t68.4\t18.0\t101.4\t39-2\t86.1\t30.0\t79-9\t21.9\n8\t54-9\t18.5\t73-i\t33-8\t51-5\t20.1\t53-3\t23-9\n9\t67.3\t14.4\t41.6\t5-7\t60.0\t20.4\t66.0\t295\nIO\t85-1\t22.5\t84.1\t27.8\t90.7\t25-5\t80.5\t22.7\nii\t101.6\t27.2\t83.8\t21.3\t51-2\t14.2\t65-8\t23-3\n12\t107.0\t13.2\t91.0\ti3-i\t82.0\t41.2\t63.8\t49-4\n!3\t114.8\t25-4\t110.2\t19-5\t51-3\t23-9\t64.8\t26.6\n14\t60.4\t3i-i\t80.1\t21.2\t78.9\t41.7\t116.3\t36.6\ni5\t8S.0\t16.2\t85-5\t24.8\t68.7\t8-9\t65-5\t25.8\n16\t79.8\t24-5\t59-4\t15-9\t71.4\t18.9\t70.9\t17-3\n17\t94-3\t23.8\t94.6\t17-3\t94-5\t30.1\t79.1\t21.0\n18\t84.0\tii-3\t80.2\t16.5\t72.3\t32.8\t65.0\t19.2\n19\t96-5\t30.3\t104.6\t18.6\t78.3\t30-3\t75-4\t20.1\n20\t82.1\t21.6\t79.1\t33-2\tIOI.I\t23.0\t85-9\t20.8\n21\t81.0\t24.8\t89-3\t26 4\t76.1\t34-o\t80.8\t39-0\n22\t82.8\t35-3\t87.8\t29.4\t50.1\t16.0\t53-\u00b0\t14.8\n23\t98.7\t7-4\t108.0\t17. i\t56.4\t32.6\t66.5\t36.8\n24\t94.0\t33-7\t76.8\t43.0\t132-4\t27.8\t92.9\t38.2\n25\t44.4\t5-9\t63.6\t\u00cf5.2\t78.9\t33-3\t88.5\t30.8\n26\t83-3\t22.5\t91.i\t17.8\t97-4\t34-2\t72.8\t41-3\n27\t84-5\t1S.3\t87.1\t20.1\t65-5\t30.0\t84.0\t24.6\n28\t67.1\t29.6\t42.8\t18.4\t78.8\t35-8\t99-9\t32-5\n29\thi.8\t18.6\t70.5\t3\u00b0.6\t110.5\t27.7\t72.0\t28.0\n3\u00b0\t43-9\t24.2\t79-4\t20.2\t103.6\t3i-i\t94-7\t29.1\n31\t112.5\t29-3\t87.7\t29-3\t62.7\t39-3\t68.9\t41.8\n32\t100.9\t19. i\t82.1\t12.8\t52-9\t29-5\t49 4\t26.0\n33\t105.8\t14. i\t89.1\t17-3\t74-5\t20.5\t87.7\t13-4\n34\t89-5\t28.1\t86.4\t25.6\t103.0\t32-7\t59-8\t13.2\n35\t71.9\t14-5\t66.7\t26.5\t48.2\t25-5\t43-i\t10.0\n36\t41-5\t25.6\t71.4\t31.0\t57-6\t27.8\t79.6\t32.1\n37\t90.7\t22.6\t96.9\t28.9\t46.2\ti7-i\t86.7\t22.3\n38\t94.8\t28.S\t89-3\t28.4\t70.7\t34-i\t79.8\t22.1\n39\t85-7\t38-3\t39-6\t14.0\t72.8\t25-3\t70-9\t24.2\nAv.\t82.4\t22.9\t82.1\t23.0\t76i4\t27.8\t73-8\t6.0\nAV.y\taverage of\teach paper ; P.\t\tEimmediate probable error\t\t\t(P- 25).\tUnit of\nmeasurement, 10.","page":50},{"file":"p0051.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n51\nThe pencil or brush was held by the child in any way he wished. Some changed their manner of holding it often. Three children began by holding the pencil by the ape grasp, that is, the thumb not opposed to the fingers ; afterwards they made use of a manner much like that of the average person except that the fingers were too cramped for ease. In two cases the pencil was placed between the first and second finger. Most of the children imitated the manner in which the teacher held her pencil, that is,\u2014the pencil was held between the thumb and second finger, with the forefinger resting upon the upper right side of the pencil, and the pencil\u2019 resting against the knuckle of the forefinger.\nThey grasped the pencil more firmly than was necessary, but approached very nearly to this position.\nThe second and fourth sets, B and D, were made under the partial constraint of having a copy to reproduce. The copy had very little influence on most of the children, the size of the ovals made being about the same as before. In some cases there was an earnest endeavor to reproduce the copy, at least the size of it; but in most cases there was no difference in the appearance of the papers as to there being more uniformity in the size or the slant of the oval.\nThe slant of the oval in some papers varied from o\u00b0 to 17 50. In most cases, there was much less variety of slant.\nA free full arm movement was used in most cases, the exceptions being: numbers 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12 and 20 in exercise A, 1, 14 and 37 in exercise B, and 30 in exercise D, in which the finger and wrist movement was used entirely; and in numbers 15, 17, 21 and 29 of exercise\n3> 7; 10, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 24, 29, 35 and 37 of exercise B, 24 of exercise C, and 21 and 28 of exercise D, in which the finger and wrist movement was used part of the time, and the free arm movement part of the time.\nThe ovals made by the finger and wrist movements were smaller than the pattern, the others much larger.\nThe pencil does not permit so much freedom of movement as the brush. 'Ve might expect the brush then to give a slant that is more natural.\nIf the experiments whose results are given in Tables I to VI inclusive, have shown the direction in which the movement is easiest, we should expect the greatest length of the oval to lie in this direction.\ndhe averages for the four sets of ovals are 82.4\u00b0, 82. i\u00b0, 76.4\u00b0 and 73-8 respectively. The slight difference between the averages of the first and second sets is to be accounted for wholly by chance. The difference between the third and fourth sets may be accounted for in the same way. The difference between the first two sets and last two sets,","page":51},{"file":"p0052.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"S2\nCloyd N McAllister,\nhowever, may be due to some cause other than chance. This cause may be found in the difference between the instruments used in making the ovals, and the results seem to warrant this conclusion.\nThe Tables I to VI inclusive show that a straight line may be made at a slant of between 30\u00b0 and 450 with the most ease ; the line perpendicular to this line being the most difficult. In making the ring the intention is to make all axes of the same length and the hand is consciously turned out of its initial direction ; but, it does not move easily in the direction of the moving radius for the angles from 120\u00b0 to 1350 and the corresponding angles from 300\u00b0 to 3150.\nThe movement is made with one continuous swing of the pencil or brush. The eye has no time to correct the movement,1 the muscle sense alone governs the extent of movement in either direction.\nAs the feeling of effort made by the eye in running along vertical lines is greater than that made by running over horizontal distances of the same length, and so results in an over estimation of the vertical distances, so, we find that the greater effort required to make movements in the direction of the radii of quadrants II and IV causes the distances passed over in those directions to be overestimated by the muscle sense.\nAfter the ring has been made, the eye discovers the error due to the muscle sense. A desire to correct this may cause an extra effort to be made in the direction in which the movements require a greater amount of muscular strain, and so the angle made by the longest axis of the oval may be increased ninety degrees in the second attempt. The attempt to correct the difference causes the variety of slants as found on some papers.\nLet the reader with his eyes open make a \u201cring \u201d rapidly. Then closing the eyes, but with no conscious effort to correct the length of the diameters, that is, moving the pencil with the same purpose as before, make another one ; the similarity of the two ovals will be striking. There will be no effort to correct the diameters of the ovals if several rings are made with the eyes closed.\nIt would be possible to get children to make rings with the eyes closed or, perhaps better, blindfolded ; but the fluctuating back and forth or the longer axis in the method employed with the children in this experiment, will doubtless on an average produce very nearly the same slant as that which would be obtained with the eyes closed.\nIII. The movement to be used in writing.\nThe following discussion is based partly on the preceding experimentsand partly on more general principles of psychology and facts of experience :\n1 Woodworth, The accuracy of voluntary movement, Psychological Review, Mono graph Supplement, 1899 III 72.","page":52},{"file":"p0053.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n53\nChildren, in first learning to write, use the finger and wrist move-ments Such movements by the small hands produce very small letters, and the teacher must give a great deal of attention to the movement of the full arm in order to train the child to make use of the movements which permit the formation of larger letters.\nThe full arm movement when the elbow is resting on the desk, for which we have used the term full arm movement with rest, is much more rapid than the finger and wrist movement.\nOne of the subjects, G, in some of the experiments recorded here, uses the forearm movement, suggested by Woodworth,1 for writing his signa-\nture__that is, the s'ide to side swing of the forearm\u2014\u201c the direction of the\nline of writing is nearly toward the body, or more exactly in line with the forearm. A backward movement of the whole arm carries the hand along the line, while the side to side motion of the wrist and forearm make the separate strokes. \u2019 \u2019 The top of the paper, for this form of movement, must be inclined to the right. This movement produces writing with very sharp angles.\nIt is certainly an easy movement but the head will be inclined toward the right to make the reading easier for the oblique position of the paper. The straight middle position for the paper would cause the elbow to be pushed outward and forward, so that the forearm may be parallel with the bottom edge of the paper; this encourages a stooping of the shoulders, and necessitates bending the head forward so that the chin is pressed closely to the throat, compressing the air passages. Such a position cannot be used in the schools, and we question the value of using it even for adults.\nThe finger and wrist movement permits round forms for the letters, and so a more legible hand ; it is very much slower than the full arm movement with rest, requiring not less than 16 per cent. (p. 45) more time than those movements, so that the loss of time in producing the writing doubtless balances the gain in legibility.\nExperience has shown the teachers of penmanship that neither movement, by itself, should be used to the exclusion of the other : if used in combination, the freedom of the forearm can be united with the more delicate touch and shaping power of the fingers, enabling the writer to execute easily and rapidly, with less fatigue than with either movement separately.\nFor small children, the greatest attention should be given to develop -lng a good, full arm movement. Even with much care in this direction\nWoodworth, The accuracy of voluntary movements, Psychological Review, Monograph Supplement, 1899 III 106.","page":53},{"file":"p0054.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"54\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nthe fingers will be used largely. This means of course that the elbow is to rest upon the desk. The child is unable to properly coordinate the movements of the arm. If the arm does not rest upon the desk, it will be held tightly to the side of the body in order to aid in the control of the movement. After the arm has been well trained, the rest will often be considered not necessary. The trunk of the body should be inclined a little forward, the back straight, the upper arms hanging nearly vertical ; the breast not touching the front edge of the desk. If the desk is sufficiently low, this permits an easy position for writing. The head, inclined slightly forward, should not be brought too close to the writing. The left forearm should be so placed that it will make an angle of about 6o\u00b0 with the right forearm. All the larger movements should be made with the full arm, also all of the strokes directly up and down. The fingers should aid in forming the turns, producing thereby broader turns than the full arm movements alone would tend to produce.\nThe preliminary training of the child should be to give it perfect control of the hand. Clay modeling in the kindergarten is available for this purpose. This should be accompanied by the use of the brush. Most children have the slate or lead pencil placed in their hands at the start. The slate or lead pencil requires a firm grip and some pressure in order to produce friction enough to make the path of the point visible. The habit thus formed of gripping the pencil is seldom eradicated.\nThe narrow path of the pencil permits small figures, the wrist or edge of the palm near the little finger rests upon the table, and the hand is moved by short, limping steps along the line.\nThe broader path of the brush makes a small figure or character impossible for the small hands, and a large full arm movement is easily acquired. By the continued use of the brush a higher degree of muscular sensitiveness is gained \\ the child soon learns to make finer and more regular lines. The bright colors and solid figures produced by the brush are of much more interest to the child than the empty outlines produced by a pencil. No attempt should be made to form letters until the child has acquired a fair degree of control of the movements of the arm. This should be followed by producing large letters with the brush, care being taken to see that the forms of the letters are properly impressed upon the child.\nThe use of the pen will follow naturally from this. The brush does not require a hard grip, and the pen will be held lightly. Soft pens and light penholders should be used. Attention should be given to the manner of holding the pen ; the wrist or side of the palm must not rest upon the table ; the third and fourth fingers should support the hand. The ink used should be a heavy black or dark blue, and the paper a light yellow.","page":54},{"file":"p0055.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n55\nThe slate has become a matter of history at least so far as our schools are concerned. The lead pencil will always be with us, but the child should be furnished with very soft ones.\nThe earlier training with the brush and pen will have taught the child how to prevent rubbing the soft pencil mark.\nIV. The best slope for writing.\nThe question of economy in time always enters into the discussion of any system of writing. The experiments recorded above have shown the directions in which the movements may be most easily made. They all show that the most rapid movements are near the end of the first thirds of quadrants I and III.\nBy means of experiments similar to those made by Woodworth, it has been recognized that the most rapid short movements are those made by swinging the forearm back and forth, resting on the muscles below the elbow as a pivot.\nThe exact angle at which the movements must be made with reference to the body had not been determined previous to the experiments recorded above, but the direction was well enough determined to cause the exponents of the sloping systems of writing to affirm that a slope of 48\u00b0 permitted the most rapid writing. In order to understand fully the direction of the principal strokes for this slope, we must consider the directions given to students of these systems.1\nFour positions of the writer may be properly assumed : the left, the right, the right oblique and the front ; but since the demands of school hygiene are that the front position only should be used, we will consider that position only. For such a position the students are instructed to sit directly in front of the desk, keeping both sides equally distant from it. The paper should be turned so that the bottom edge forms an angle of 200 with the edge of the desk.\nIf a slope of 48\u00b0 be added to this angle we find that the down strokes, that is, the strokes determining the slant, are 68\u00b0 from the X axis or the front line of the body ; or, to use the notation employed above, these strokes are along the radius for the angle 248\u00b0, and lie in the latter part \u00b0f the third quadrant.\n1 he slope recommended for general writing and for instruction in the schools was 5 20 ; this in like manner would mean an angle of 7 20 to the ^ axis or 2520 for the down stroke.\nThe up strokes of the letters are made at an angle of 340 to the base '*ne ; because of the slope of the paper their direction is that of the radius Spencer, Spencerian Key to Practical Penmanship, 27, New York, 1872.","page":55},{"file":"p0056.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"56\nCloy ci N AfcAllister,\nfor the angle 540. Exceptions to this rule are found in the case of the letters r and the initial stroke of which would be at an angle of 390 to the base line ; and of v, whose up strokes should be at 45\u00b0. So we find that the up strokes varied from 540 to 65\u00b0 from the X axis.\nThe slant that resulted in great beauty was 6o\u00b0. Then the range of slant varied from 68\u00b0 to 8o\u00b0 with the X axis, according as speed or beauty was most required ; the down strokes therefore lay in quadrant III between the radii for the angles 240\u00b0 and 260\u00b0.\nThe experiments on large movements, p. 37, have shown the great tendency to change the slope toward the directions most easily made. The hand in trying to use a slope between 6o\u00b0 to 48\u00b0 would unconsciously take a greater slope of from about 50\u00b0 to 38\u00b0. The lines lying at such small angles to the base line become hard to distinguish. The distances between the lines are very much diminished as the slant from the vertical is increased, and the turns, being more and more narrowed, come to be angles. Such angular writing is very hard to read rapidly.\nThe hand acquires a slope in writing that is usually farther removed rom the perpendicular than the model used as a copy in learning to write. This has been observed by teachers of writing.\nBy the time the habit had been acquired, and the individual\u2019s style developed, it was found that the slope actually used was a much greater deviation from the vertical. The vertical systems, which gained general acceptance so quickly, form an excellent means of producing a legible and rapid hand. The child is taught to make his strokes vertical ; the hand acquires the habit, and the deviation from this direction is not usually more than io\u00b0.\nThe paper before the writer, being square with the desk and immediately in front of him, has the same position with reference to him as the disc in the desk used for the experiments on small movements, p. 41. The down strokes then take the directions from 2550 to 270\u00b0. The commercial colleges noted the deviation from the vertical, and, not knowing the cause, concluded that this direction was \u201c natural \u201d to the hand and they accordingly adopted the slant of about 70\u00b0. We recognize that with the paper in the straight middle position, the position recommended for vertical writing, the movements for this slant are made, in the same directions as those insisted upon in the Spencerian systems of writing-\nAs the results of our experiments would indicate, it was found that the slope taught was not adhered to.\nSuch a style of writing is not as legible as the copy set before the pupil, nor as the style used by the students of the vertical systems.","page":56},{"file":"p0057.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n57\nGradually the commercial college men changed their copy till they n0w use a system very nearly vertical ; the angle which the principal strokes make with the X axis is about 85\u00b0 ; the paper is inclined to the left IO\u00b0j thus a slope of 750 with the base line is produced. The deviation from this slope which we now expect results in a slope of about 70\u00b0, for the individual styles of the students. The habit has been acquired by the student and the writing produced is very legible.\nThe public schools are no longer upon insisting the strictly vertical forms for every pupil.\nObjection is made to the position of the paper before the middle of the body. For a paper five and one-half inches wide, the left side should be placed directly in front of the middle of the body, according to many instructors.\nThe Supervisor of Penmanship in the public schools of a city where one of the vertical systems is used, suggests that for older pupils, and to aid in rapid writing, the lower left hand corner of the paper should be moved even farther to the right\u2014perhaps an inch and a half\u2014and the top of the paper then inclined toward the left about ten degrees. Down strokes that approach 2700 are then made for the principal ones ; this means that the slant taught would be one of about 8o\u00b0 with the base line, and we are not surprised to find that, when the individual\u2019s style is acquired, it proves to be a slope of about 750 or that of the copy used by the business-college men.\nBecause of the construction of the arm, the movements near the end of the first third of quadrants I and III are most rapid and the attempt to make a line of any given slope will result in a slope which approaches nearer the easiest movement for that quadrant except where a conscious effort is made to prevent this ; in writing, no such effort is made. A copy of considerable slope, though legible, will produce a style of writing with a greater slope and less legibility j it is in this that the vertical systems have a decided advantage over the older, or Spencerian systems.\nA very near approach to the copy is of course desirable, but is not attained by most writers, and never in any case without long practice. Because of the tendency to increase the slant from the vertical, children when learning to write in the Spencerian systems are unable to produce results that can be easily read. With the so-called vertical systems, an increase in the slope, though found, is not sufficient to render the writing \u2022'legible, and a readable hand is more easily acquired. Care in instruction VV\u2018H tend to improve the legibility and the final style for the student is much better than that of most of us who were instructed in the Spence-Rian systems.","page":57},{"file":"p0058.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"5\u00a7\nCloyd N McAllister,\nThe question of the legibility of the styles acquired by the individuals must decide which slope is the best. The slope desired must be chosen first, and the copy made a few degrees nearer the vertical.\nThe greater the slant from the Y axis, the more rapid will be the writing, even to the extent of causing the principal strokes to make an angle of 45 \u00b0 or less with the X axis.\nSuch a direction for the strokes would require that the top of the paper be turned somewhat toward the right, in order that the resulting writing may have the necessary slope with the base line to make it legible.\nThe strictly vertical slopes are not so easy to make. The slant of about 750 permits legible writing; as the slant approaches the vertical, it is of course more legible, but as the angle decreases below seventy the legibility decreases rapidly. The down strokes of such a slope are in the direction of the radius for about 2550, provided the paper be square with the desk. The up strokes are about 150 less than this slope or about 6o\u00b0.\nVertical writing would require 2700 movements for the down strokes and, when the upstrokes do not coincide with the down strokes, movements of about 750 for the up strokes.\nThe experiments on small movements, p. 41, show that the movements for 270\u00b0 require only 7 per cent, more time than the movements for 2550; the 750 movements require about the same proportional increase of time more than 6o\u00b0 movements require.\nMost of the systems of writing have this difference of slant between the up and down strokes. The turns are those of a rather narrow ellipse. This is not as legible as a more circular or round turn. With broad round turns the up strokes may follow the lines of the down strokes and thus produce a style of writing more nearly like the printed characters. This is desirable, especially for the child making his first efforts.\nThe elliptical slanting up strokes, as our experiments show, are more rapid than the vertical straight strokes, but speed is not a consideration for the beginner. For the young child, the purpose is to fix upon him the visual and muscular sense images of the different letters and to properly associate them.\nWhen the letters such as m, n, w, u, t, and so forth have the up and down stroke coincident as far as possible, the appearance of the letters is much more simple, and the form more easily fixed in the child\u2019s mind.\nThe reason for turning the paper about io\u00b0 toward the left is that in moving the hand along the base line, or in writing a long word, the inclination of the paper admits of an easier movement.","page":58},{"file":"p0059.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n59\nThe time required to move the hand along the io\u00b0 radius is 20 per nt less than the time for a movement along the radius of o\u00b0.\nAny turning of the top of the paper toward the left will cause the child to turn his head toward the left, so as to make the line joining the eyes parallel to the base line of the writing.\nMany lecture halls have small tablets secured to the right arm of the chairs in order that the student may have a support for his notebook. During the present college year we have given attention to the positions taken by the students while writing. The tablets are almost wholly to the right of the writer ; the notebooks are so placed that their tops are turned towards the left when on the tablets. There was not one student observed at any time during the year whose body was in an upright position and head square on the shoulders while writing his notes. The head was inclined towards the left and the spine curved, in order to twist the line joining the pupils of the eyes into a position parallel with the base line of the writing and as nearly directly above the paper as possible.\nWhen the notebooks rested on the knees the same bending of the head was to be seen.\nThis is the old habit acquired at the school desk during the writing lesson. For the children who are just beginning to write, the question of speed is of no importance. The fundamental thing is to educate the muscles that the proper coordinations may be made to form legible characters. Let every precaution be taken to keep the position of the child upright, the head square upon the shoulders. A front straight position, with the left side of the paper on the median line or a little to the left \u00b0f it, is the only one that admits of this. Let the up strokes be merely a vertical retracing of the down strokes when the form of the letter will permit.\nA base line is desirable that the eye may more surely guide the hand ln wnting a line across the page, or in properly lining the letters in a word. Other lines on the paper will cause the child to give more attention \u00b0. sPacing and height of the letters than to the form. Much energy 'V!|1 devoted to causing the letters to just touch the top line ; the head ^ he drawn down to the paper, the back curved and the shoulders bent ward in the attempt to see just beyond the point of the pen, so that it ay not be moved too far in the upward stroke, hand .neCtln^ the Otters is desirable ; for, as the child slowly moves the tanc ln Pr0dudnS the UP stroke, the eye has time to estimate the dis-an<^ ^e tops of the letters are for that reason very nearly in a line. \u00b0ut these guiding lines, the tool used in writing is raised from the","page":59},{"file":"p0060.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"6 o\nCloyd N. McAllister,\npaper at the base line ; the movement toward the place from which to begin the formation of the next letter is rapid ; the muscles not trained overestimate the distance, and the top of the next letter is often half the height of the letter above where it should be. The child may be governed by the size of the copy and so make this letter entirely above the line ; or, if much has been said about writing on the line, the letter may be made enough larger than the copy to permit of its resting on the line. The next jump may be underestimated in the endeavor to not go too high, and, to make the letter full size it must extend below the base line ; perhaps influenced by the strict injunction to write on the line, the letter is reduced in size to suit the space. Such results are discouraging to the child. With connecting lines, the movements are made more slowly, and the distances estimated.\n4s skill is acquired, the pupil may see that these lines are not essential parts of the letters and may omit them altogether ; but this will not happen until speed has been acquired, and the need of reducing the time of forming the letters results in dropping all unnecessary lines.\nBinet and Courtier,1 found that separated letters may be made more rapidly than connected ones.\nIt is a great strain on the nerves of the hand and arm to attempt to keep a constant pressure on the paper for all strokes. Raising the pen or pencil from the paper removes this strain ; the upward movements may be made much more freely and with greater ease if it is not necessary to trace the path of the movements on the paper.\nThe up strokes at the beginning and end of a word, which the small child must make with so much care in the older systems of writing, are of no assistance to the reader, if they do not actually hinder him.\nFor rapid reading, only the lines essential to the forms of the letters should be on the paper.\nJackson states2 that \u201cContinuity in writing is one of the preeminent elements of speed.\u201d He admits later: \u201c It cannot be too strongly impressed upon our teachers that the laws and rules which determine shape, size, direction and junction of strokes and letters are not fixed and immutable, but arbitrary and conventional j\u201d but even this cannot prevent him from expressing astonishment that a certain person, one who fails to con--nect his letters according to the Jacksonian method, \u201ca voluminous writer and author,\u201d and whose correspondence is \u201cimmense,\u201d should \u201cstill survive in remarkably good health.\u201d\n1\tBinet et Courtier, Sur la vitesse des mouvements graphique, Revue Philosophique, 1893 I 667.\n2\tJackson, Theory and Practice of Handwriting, 51, London, 1893.","page":60},{"file":"p0061.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\t61\nThe statement that \u201c every word should be finished before removing the pen \u201d is often printed in bold type in books on writing and insisted upon by most teachers of writing.\nAn examination of the writing of these persons, however, will show that they do not follow this principle. One such person in a letter to the secretary of a publishing house upon the subject of writing stated : \u201cThe fact is\u2014as perhaps this rapid scrawl of mine will in a measure\nev;nce__the joining of letters is the one efficient means of securing\nrapidity and continuity in the composition of a word. Of course, however, the manner of joining, leading doubtless to some modifications of the system now in vogue, needs to be determined and reduced to a practical art.\u201d In this section of the letter, dealing with the question of rapidity, we may see spaces between the letters in twenty-eight, cases.\nThe places within the words where the pen has been raised and a letter has not been joined to the preceding one are indicated by italicising the letter after each such jump of the pen, in the following manner : \u201cThe fact is\u2014as perhaps this rapid scrawl of mine will in a measure evince\u2014the joining of letters is the one efficient means of securing rapidity and continuity in the composition of a word. Of course, however, the manner of joining, leading doubt/ess to some modifications of the system now in vogue, needs to be determined and reduced to a practical art.\u201d In these twenty-eight cases there can be no doubt at all that the pen was raised while writing the words, for the letters are not joined. The manner of joining, in six cases, is such as to show that, though the lines actually meet, the pen had been raised.\nA specimen of the writing of the principal of a business college, of this city, was examined. In this as in practically all business colleges, the students are taught that a continuous motion is necessary for speed. The specimen examined, however, showed many letters disconnected. The teacher though using a continuous motion, when possible made that Motion easier by removing the friction of the pen upon the paper, and relieving the muscle of the hand for an instant from maintaining the constant pressure upon the paper.\nThe shading alternating with fine hair lines contained in some of the older \u201cadvanced\u201d copy books provided a means of relieving this strain by varying the pressure. The hair lines were always the less important ones. Many rapid writers make few lines with the upward stroke of the pen. These movements as our experiments have shown, are harder to Make than the down strokes.\nbf the hand is trained well to move the proper distance the line of","page":61},{"file":"p0062.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"6 2\nCloyd N. McAllister,\nthe writing is not badly broken by a failure to estimate the distance in the rapid upward jump of the pen ; nor is the forward movement in pass ing from one letter to the next, overestimated to such an extent as to destroy the continuity of the word. This training we believe can be more easily acquired by using connecting lines with beginners.\nFor the beginner, we would suggest that : the copy contain all the connecting strokes ; that in the letters m, n, u and similar forms the up strokes coincide with the down strokes as far as possible, producing broad round turns ; that the slope be 90\u00b0 ; that the paper be placed straight before the child, the left edge on or a little to the left of the median line.\nIf the up strokes slope off from the down strokes in the letters mentioned, the legibility is not so great and the illusion produced by the copy is that the down strokes slope backward. Such a copy might cause the child to write a back hand.\nThe copy may show the lines connecting the letters without a break in a word, but we should not insist that the pen be not raised during the writing of the word ; it doubtless will be raised, but the downward strokes will meet the connecting lines, and the child will be aided in estimating the height of the letters and the spaces between them.\nThe position suggested for the paper permits the child to follow the pen more easily with the eye.\nWith such a manner of writing children will acquire a legible hand quickly. The great mass of the people who leave the schools early in the course will be able to write a legible hand.\nThere should be no studied effort to disconnect the letters. Such an effort may cause a full stop at the close of each letter. If the hand has been trained to a continuous movement, when writing rapidly without any effort to raise the pen, it will be seen to jump over the distance in the upward strokes when the down strokes must retrace the path made by the up strokes. This manner of writing soon leads to the omission of many of the connecting lines. The result is more legible than before these lines were comitted, and the speed is increased by the saving of time in the rapid free movement of the pen.\nThe sizes of the letters should be reduced considerably from the large copy placed before the beginners. Each pupil should be allowed to make those sizes naturally agreeable to him, after the forms of the letters have been thoroughly mastered. The space between the lines should be sufficient to prevent any appearance of crowding, and to per-mit paying no attention to the lines.\nThe lines are often a means of retarding the speed, for some attention is given to keeping on them. If the hand has been trained to write on a","page":62},{"file":"p0063.txt","language":"en","ocr_en":"Researches on movements used in writing.\n63\n. -t w;ii not be a difficult task to continue in a straight line without line*\nthe aid of the ruling.\nWhen speed is demanded from the advanced pupil, a slight slanting of the paper to the left may be suggested. The movement in forming the letters is now a fixed habit, and their direction with reference to the body ill not change. The result is that a slant between 75\u00b0 and 85\u00b0 is now used ; this is legible and permits greater speed than the strictly vertical.\nThe question is often asked : Is there any valid objection to teaching a back hand? The experiments recorded above show conclusively that there is at least one valid objection, that is, such a slant requires movements that are comparatively very hard to make and so reduces the speed to such an extent that it must be considered impracticable:\nFor the students of stenography the question of speed is of the greatest importance. The older systems contain many characters that must be made by movements in the direction of the radii of quadrant IV. These movements are very slow, requiring 27 per cent, more time on the average than the movements of quadrant III and 24 per cent, more than those of quadrant I.\nOne system of shorthand, introduced into this country about 1893, contains no characters that must be made in either quadrant II or IV, and the slope of the characters is such that they lie very near the middle of the quadrants I and III. In this respect, then, this system of shorthand is the most rapid yet devised. Since shorthand never requires a series of lines parallel to each other to be closely connected, this slope does not reduce the legibility.","page":63}],"identifier":"lit28755","issued":"1900","language":"en","pages":"21-63","startpages":"21","title":"Researches on movements used in writing","type":"Journal Article","volume":"8"},"revision":0,"updated":"2022-01-31T12:51:30.780066+00:00"}