AS QUICK AS THOUGHT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2363, 8 June 1899, Page 59

AS QUICK AS THOUGHT.

If a man in London could shake hands with another man in Edinburgh, a train from one town to the other, starting immediately their hands touched, would have travelled half way before the man in London would know that his' hand was touching anything.

When men coined the phrase " Quick as thought'," they were under the impression that " thought " flashed from the senses along the nerves to the, brain with a rapidity far exceeding that of lightning.

To-day, after 40 years of arduous study and experiment, Mr Titchener, Professor of Psychology at Cornell University, in America, has conclusively^ proved that this idea is utterly erroneous— that, in fact, thought travels along the human nerves at a relatively slow speed.

It is impossible to give a description of Professor Titchener's experiments without entering into a maze of technicalities, which would be Arabic to all bu J psychologists. But this is not the case witii regard to results. He has proved that the velocity of the average thought in a normal human being is only 110 ft per second. This kills the " quick-as-thought ' notion, for sound travels 1060tt per second, or over nine times as fast ; and . light, with its velocity of 186,660 miles per second, travels no less than 8,959,680 times as fast 1 as thought. The distance from London to Edinburgh is four hundred miles, and a train will cover this in nine hours. A Hash of light »would take but l-450th part of a second, "and a thought five hours 20 minutes. So that if a man were born with an arm so long that, standing in London, he could stretch it right through England over valley and dale and grasp a friend's hand in Edinburgh, five hours and 20 minutes- would pass before the man in London would be aware that his hand touched anything. Of course we are supposing that he could not see his Edinburgh friend, as the sense of sight works with greater rapidity than touch.

The rapidity of thought depends on two things — the health of the thinkei- and the nature of the thought, whether simple or complex. After the sense has been affected the thought has to be, so to speak, telegraphed along the nerves to the brain. Itthen depends on the nature of the thought whether the brain will recognise it in 100 th part of a second or longer

Professor Titcbener registers the results of his experiments by means of a clock, the whole circumference of whose /ace 'represents one second. It is divided up into. VjvV parts. The professor's experiments -go to show that the hand of this clock^will have only passed over 20 of these divisions before you could recognise light when coming into a room lit with a 36-candle power gas jet. This is the maximum speed, the minimum speed being the time taken to answer fnich simple questions as " Who is Queen of England?" "How old are youV" and so on. While you are grasping the meaning of such questions, and answering them to yourself, the hand on the tell-! ale clock will have passed over no less than 650 of the divisions !

X^ou take l-SOth^part of a second to recognise a bright light.

If you are blindfolded, and then touched, 13-lOOths of a second pass before you^know where you are touched.

When a friend speaks to you, 3-25ths of a second pass before you recognise his voice.

And 1-lOlh. of a second passes before you know what it is when a drum is beaten near you.

On the other hand, it only takes 30 divisions, as Professor Titchener teckons from his clock, for you to tell what part of your body is touched when you are blindfolded or in a pitch-dark room ; and to identify familiar sounds such as the voice of your lover, child, wife, or husband, 120 divisions. That is, it takes you longer to recognise a sound which perhaps seems to have entered into your life to such an extent as to have become part of yourself than it does to tell what part of your body is touched when you cannot see. To be eraofc, just four times as long.

Again, a friend hands you a photograph of some person you have known for years. Yet the hand on Professor Titchener's little clock will pass 180 of the divisions, and a flash of light from London would have reached Edinburgh before you yourself recognise that photograph. This, be it understood, is no slur on the photographer. Be the photograph one- of the finest ever executed, the result will be the same.

We have a saying, "As simple as adding two and* two." Working on Professor Titchener'a experiments, ifc seems that this process cf vciy simple addition takes 430 of the IGQQ divisions of the clock. That is, it

takes 210 times as long to add two and two together and recognise thaO the result is four, as it docs to recognise light when coming into a lighted room out of the dark.

You take l-sth of a second to recognise a wellknown portrait, such as that of Lord Salisbury — h

It v must be rembered that our unit has been 1000 th part of a second, and' that therefore ifc is impossible for you to verify these figures yourself unless you-procure one of the professor's clocks. But the whole scientific world seems satisfied that the professor has indeed solved a problem which will be of the greatest importance. For us, at least, he 'has practically forbidden the use of that very hackneyed expression, "As quick as thought."