ossible to observe this
physical reaction when standing behind the subject). If the subject had
bent his head backward, the "psychological moment" was marked by a
forward movement, (although under certain conditions the head was, in
such a case, observed to bend still farther backward). If during the
tests the head was bent slightly to the right, then the reaction was
expressed in a movement toward the left, and _vice versa_, if it had
been on the left, it was bent to the right. If the subject had been
bending his head forward and to the right, he then raised it upward and
to the left, etc. In all of these changes of position I noticed an
intermediate posture which, to be sure, it was not always an easy matter
to discover,--viz.: an upright position in which there was discernible
no manner of head-movement or only a slight tremor. If the subject was
lying on his back with his head supported, then there was noticeable a
very slight movement to one side. In this same way a number of other
positions were tested in order to discover for each the characteristic
movement expressive of release of tension. It would therefore appear
that the raising of the questioner's head, which served as the signal
for stopping for Mr. von Osten's horse, was but one instance of a
general law which may perhaps be stated thus: The release of muscular
tension which occurs with the cessation of psychic tension, tends to
bring about that position of the head (and body) which, at the time,
represents the slightest amount of muscular strain.--These movements
seldom were pronounced enough to be compared to motion through a
distance of one millimeter, in a very few cases only did they attain to
the magnitude of one or two millimeters: I failed to note them entirely,
however, in only two individuals, two scientific men whose mode of
thought was always the most abstract, and one of these was, in spite of
repeated attempts, unable to elicit any response whatever on the part of
the horse.
In the cases of the more suitable subjects I was able to indicate not
only the number they had in mind, but also the divisions in which the
number was thought, thus 12 as 5 and 5 and 2, or the same number as 2
and 5 and 5, and I was also able to determine the addends in the
addition--i. e., whether the problem had been conceived as 3+2=5 or as
2+3=5. It frequently happened that in the beginning I would sometimes
mistake these subdivisions, which were recognizable by the
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