In
the Harvard laboratory, for instance, a practical question led us to
examine which fingers would allow the quickest alternation of key
movements.[29] If any two of the ten fingers perform for ten seconds
the quickest possible alternation of motion, as in a trill, the
experiment can demonstrate exactly the differences between the various
combinations of fingers and the individual fluctuations for these
differences. With an electrical registration of the movements of the
alternating fingers we studied in hundredths of a second the time for
the motions of two hands and of fingers of the same hand, in order to
adjust the keys of a certain machine to the most favorable impulses.
We approach this group of problems from another side when we test the
relations of various kinds of machines to various mental types.
Psychologists have studied, for example, the various styles of
typewriting machines.[30] From a purely commercial point of view the
merits of one or another machine are praised as if they were
advantageous for every possible human being. The fact is that such
advantages for one may be disadvantages for another on account of
differences in the mental disposition. One man may write more quickly
on one, another on another machine. As every one knows, the chief
difference is that of the keyboard and that of the visible or
invisible writing. Machines like the Remington machine work with a
shift key; that is, a special key must be pressed when capital letters
are to be written.
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