Page:Philosophical Review Volume 8.djvu/94

78 students and to 87 persons in middle life. Francis Gallon (Human Faculty, pp. 195, seq.) had found the per cent. of childhood associations more frequent than recent associations. The result of this study as compared with that of Francis Gallon is as follows:

"Evidently the grasp of the recent is heavy upon the conscious life of most of us, and deviations from this type of association are due to individual caprice."

To trace one of the ultimate relations between mind and its environment backward toward its source is the attempt of this paper. The influence of trees on the life of man is the topic. Why have trees played such an enormous part in the emotional and spiritual life of the race? Why do primitive peoples still worship trees and believe them to be powerful spirits, or the abodes of spirits, which rule the destinies of men? Why have the shrines of early religions been consecrated groves? Why were "the groves God's first temples," and the garden of Eden a plantation of trees? The author's view is that 'dendro-psychoses' represent 'psychic reverberations,' of a long-past tree-living age of humanity, and that the love of trees should be fostered in children.

From the official records of bicycle racing to the close of 1897, the racing times of paced and unpaced races were collated. The value of a pace is shown to be from 20 to 34 seconds in the mile. The theories accounting for this gain are the Suction Theory, Shelter Theory, Encouragement Theory, Brain-worry Theory, Theory of Hypnotic Suggestion, and Automatic Theory. The author performed a series of experiments, largely with children, to ascertain the results due to the stimulus of competition. A reel turned when alone, and while 'racing' with another child furnished the figures for comparison. The results showed three classes of children (1) those stimulated by competition to make faster time, (2) those inhibited in their motions, (3) those little affected by the competition. The author concludes that the bodily presence of another contestant participating simultaneously in the race serves to liberate latent energy not ordinarily available. The sight of the movements of the pacemakers or leading competitors,