But what we
would have gained is this. We could say: if our object exposed for 5
seconds in a group of 6 other objects is replaced after an interval of
20 seconds by an imitation and this change is recognized by 8 persons
among 10, the degree of similarity is 30 per cent and if it is
recognized by 3 out of 10 subjects, the degree of similarity is 90 per
cent. In short, from any percentage of subjects who under these
conditions discovered the substitution, we could determine the degree
of similarity, independent of any individual arbitrariness. If such
methods were accepted by the trade and the courts, it would only be
necessary, to agree on the percentage of similarity which ought to be
permitted, and all uncertainty would disappear. There would be no
wrangling of opposing interests; it would be possible to find out
whether the permitted limit were overstepped or not with an
exactitude similar to that with which the weight or the chemical
constitution of a trade commodity is examined. Certainly the
experiment establishes here conditions which are very different from
those of practical life. The customer who wants to buy a particular
picture postal card which he saw once before and to whom the salesman
offers a similar one, suggesting that it is the same, is facing only
one card and not a group of six. But in practical life the card which
be has seen was not observed with the definite intention of keeping
the memory picture in mind, and months may have passed since it was
seen.
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