Chapter 37

INSTRUCTIONS FOR YEAR IX

IX, 1. GIVING THE DATE

PROCEDURE. Ask the following questions in order:--

(a) "_What day of the week is it to-day?_" (b) "_What month is it?_" (c) "_What day of the month is it?_" (d) "_What year is it?_"

If the child misunderstands and gives the day of the month for the day of the week, or _vice versa_, we merely repeat the question with suitable emphasis, but give no other help.

SCORING. An error of three days in either direction is allowed for _c_, but _a_, _b_, and _d_ must all be given correctly. If the child makes an error and spontaneously corrects it, the change is allowed, but corrections must not be called for or suggested.

REMARKS. Binet originally located this test in year IX, but unfortunately moved it to year VIII in the 1911 revision. Kuhlmann, Goddard, and Huey all retain it in year IX, where, according to our own data, it unquestionably belongs. With the exception of Binet's 1911 results, the statistics for the test are in remarkably close agreement for children in France, Germany, England, and Eastern and Western United States. It seems that practically all children in civilized countries have ample opportunity to learn the divisions of the year, month, and week, and to become oriented with respect to these divisions. Special instruction is doubtless capable of hastening time orientation to a certain degree, but not greatly. Binet tells of a French _école maternelle_ attended by children 4 to 6 years of age, where instruction was given daily in regard to the date, and yet not a single one of the children was able to pass this test. This is a beautiful illustration of the futility of precocious teaching. In spite of well-meant instruction, it is not until the age of 8 or 9 years that children have enough comprehension of time periods, and sufficient interest in them, to keep very close track of the date. Failure to pass the test at the age of 10 or 11 years is a decidedly unfavorable sign, unless the error is very slight.

The fact that normal adults are occasionally unable to give the day of the month is no argument against the validity of the test, since the system of tests is so constructed as to allow for accidental failures on any particular test. As a matter of fact, very nearly 100 per cent of normal 12-year-old children pass this test.

The unavoidable fault of the test is its lack of uniformity in difficulty at different dates. It is easier for school children to give the day of the week on Monday or Friday than on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Mistakes in giving the day of the month are less likely to occur at the beginning or end of the month than at any other time, while mistakes in naming the month are most likely to occur then.

It is interesting to compare the four parts of this test in regard to difficulty. Binet and Bobertag both state that ability to name the year comes last, but they give no figures. Our own data show that the four parts of the test are of almost exactly the same difficulty and that this is true at all ages.

IX, 2. ARRANGING FIVE WEIGHTS

Use the five weights, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 grams. Be sure that the weights are identical in appearance. The weights may be made as described under V, 1, or they may be purchased of C. H. Stoelting & Co., Chicago, Illinois. If no weights are at hand one of the alternative tests may be substituted.

PROCEDURE. Place the five boxes on the table in an irregular group before the child and say: "_See the boxes. They all look alike, don't they? But they are not alike. Some of them are heavy, some are not quite so heavy, and some are still lighter. No two weigh the same. Now, I want you to find the heaviest one and place it here. Then find the one that is just a little lighter and put it here. Then put the next lighter one here, and the next lighter one here, and the lightest of all at this end_ (pointing each time at the appropriate spot). _Do you understand?_" Whatever the child answers, in order to make sure that he does understand, we repeat the instructions thus: "_Remember now, that no two weights are the same. Find the heaviest one and put it here, the next heaviest here, and lighter, lighter, until you have the very lightest here. Ready; go ahead._"

It is best to follow very closely the formula here given, otherwise there is danger of stating the directions so abstractly that the subject could not comprehend them. A formula like "_I want you to arrange the blocks in a gradually decreasing series according to weight_" would be Greek to most children of 10 years.

If the subject still seems at a loss to know what to do, the instructions may be again repeated. But no further help of any kind may be given. Do not tell the subject to take the blocks one at a time in the hand and try them, and do not illustrate by hefting the blocks yourself. It is a part of the test to let the subject find his own method.

Give three trials, shuffling the boxes after each. Do not repeat the instructions before the second and third trials unless the subject has used an absurd procedure in the previous trial.

SCORING. The test is passed if the blocks are arranged in the correct order _twice out of three trials_. Always record the order of arrangement and note the number and extent of displacement. Obviously an arrangement like 12-6-15-3-9 is very much more serious than one like 15-12-6-9-3, but we require that two trials be absolutely without error.

Scoring is facilitated if the blocks are marked on the bottom so that they may be easily identified. It is then necessary to exercise some care to see that the subject does not examine the bottom of the blocks for a clue as to the correct order.

REMARKS. Binet originally located this test in year IX, but in his 1911 revision changed it to year VIII. Other revisions have retained it in year IX. The correct location depends upon the weights used and upon the procedure and scoring. Kuhlmann uses weights of 3, 9, 18, 27, 36, and 45 grams, and this probably makes the test easier. Bobertag tried two sets of boxes, one set being of larger dimensions than the other. The larger gave decidedly the more errors. If we require only one success in three trials the test could be located a year or two lower in the scale, while three successes as a standard would require that it be moved upward possibly as much as two years.

Much depends also on whether the child is left to find his own method, and on this there has been much difference of procedure. Kuhlmann, Bobertag, and Wallin illustrate the correct method of making the comparison by first hefting and arranging the weights while the subject looks on. We prefer to keep the test in its original form, and with the procedure and scoring we have used it is well located in year IX.

Wallin carries his assistance still further by saying, after the first block has been placed, "Now, find the heaviest of the four," and after the second has been placed, "Now, find the heaviest of the three," etc. Finally, when the arrangement has been made, he tells the subject to try them again to make sure the order is correct, allowing the subject to make whatever changes he thinks necessary. This procedure robs the test of its most valuable features. The experiment was not devised primarily as a test of sensory discrimination, for it has long been recognized that individuals who have developed as far as the 9- or 10-year level of intelligence are ordinarily but little below normal in sensory capacity.

Psychologically, the test resembles that of comparing weights in V, 1. Success depends, in the first place, upon the correct comprehension of the task and the setting of a goal to be attained; secondly, upon the choice of a suitable method for realizing the goal; and finally, upon the ability to keep the end clearly in consciousness until all the steps necessary for its attainment have been gone through. Elementary as are the processes involved, they represent the prototype of all purposeful behavior. The statesman, the lawyer, the teacher, the physician, the carpenter, all in their own way and with their own materials, are continually engaged in setting goals, choosing means, and inhibiting the multitudinous appeals of irrelevant and distracting ideas.

In this experiment the subject may fail in any one of the three requirements of the test or in all of them. (1) He may not comprehend the instructions and so be unable to set the goal. (2) Though understanding what is expected of him, he may adopt an absurd method of carrying out the task. Or (3) he may lose sight of the end and begin to play with the blocks, stacking them on top of one another, building trains, tossing them about, etc. Sometimes the guiding idea is not completely lost, but is weakened or rendered only partially operative. In such a case the subject may compare some of the blocks carefully, place others without trying them at all, but continue in his half-rational, half-irrational procedure until all the blocks have been arranged.

It is essential, therefore, to supplement the mere record of success or failure by jotting down a brief but accurate description of the performance. Note any hesitation or inability to grasp the instructions. Note especially any absurd procedure, such as placing all the blocks without hefting any of them, comparing only some of them, holding them up and shaking them, hefting two at once in the same hand, etc. The ideal method, of course, is to try all the blocks carefully before placing any of them, then to make a tentative arrangement, and finally, to correct this tentative arrangement by means of individual comparisons. A slight departure from this method does not always bring failure, but it renders success less probable. As a rule it is only the very intelligent children of 10 years who think to test out their first arrangement by making a final and additional trial of each block in turn. Contrary to what might be supposed, success is slightly favored by hefting the blocks successively with one hand rather than by taking one in each hand for simultaneous comparison, but as the child cannot be expected to know this, we must regard the two methods as equally logical.

The test of arranging weights has met universal praise. Its special advantage is that it tests the subject's intelligence in the manipulation of _things_ rather than his capacity for dealing with _abstractions_. It tests his ability to do something rather than his ability to express himself in language. It throws light upon certain factors of motor adaptation and practical judgment which play a great part in the everyday life of the average human being. It depends as little upon school, perhaps, as any other test of the scale, and it is readily usable with children of all nations without danger of being materially altered in translation Moreover, it is always an interesting test for the child. Bobertag goes so far as to say that any 8- or 9-year child who passes this test cannot possibly be feeble-minded. This may be true; but the converse is hardly the case; that is, the failure of older children is by no means certain proof of mental retardation. The same observation, however, applies equally well to many other of the Binet tests, some of which correlate more closely with true mental age than this one. A rather considerable fraction of normal 12-year-olds fail on it, and it is in fact somewhat less dependable than certain other tests if we wish to differentiate between 9-year and 11-year intelligence. But it is a test we could ill afford to eliminate.[63]

[63] Compare with V, 1.

IX, 3. MAKING CHANGE

PROCEDURE. Ask the following questions in the order here given:--

(a) "_If I were to buy 4 cents worth of candy and should give the storekeeper 10 cents, how much money would I get back?_" (b) "_If I bought 13 cents worth and gave the storekeeper 15 cents, how much would I get back?_" (c) "_If I bought 4 cents worth and gave the storekeeper 25 cents, how much would I get back?_"

Coins are not used, and the subject is not allowed the help of pencil and paper. If the subject forgets the statement of the problem, it is permissible to repeat it once, but only once. The response should be made in ten or fifteen seconds for each problem.

SCORING, The test is passed if _two out of three_ problems are answered correctly in the allotted time. In case two answers are given to a problem, we follow the usual rule of counting the second and ignoring the first.

REMARKS. Problems of this nature, when thoroughly standardized, are extremely valuable as tests of intelligence. The difficulty of the test, as we have used it, does not lie in the subtraction of 4 from 10, 12 from 15, etc. Such subtractions, when given as problems in subtraction, are readily solved by practically all normal 8-year-olds who have attended school as much as two years. The problems of the test have a twofold difficulty: (1) The statement of the problem must be comprehended and held in mind until the solution has been arrived at; (2) the problem is so stated that the subject must himself select the fundamental operation which applies. The latter difficulty is somewhat the greater of the two, addition sometimes being employed instead of subtraction.

It is just such difficulties as this that prove so perplexing to the feeble-minded. High-grade defectives, although they require more than the usual amount of drill and are likely to make occasional errors, are nevertheless capable of learning to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fairly well. Their main trouble comes in deciding which of these operations a given problem calls for. They can master routine, but as regards initiative, judgment, and power to reason they are little educable. The psychology and pedagogy of mental deficiency is epitomized in this statement.

There has been little disagreement as to the proper location of the test of making change, but various procedures have been employed. Coins have generally been employed, in which case the subject is actually allowed to make the change. Most other revisions have also given only a single problem, usually 4 cents out of 20 cents, or 4 out of 25, or 9 out of 25. It is evident that these are not all of equal difficulty. There is general agreement, however, that normal children of 9 years should be able to make simple change.

IX, 4. REPEATING FOUR DIGITS REVERSED

The series are 6-5-2-8; 4-9-3-7; 3-6-2-9.

PROCEDURE AND SCORING. Exactly as in VII, alternate test 2.[64]

[64] See discussion, p. 207 _ff._

IX, 5. USING THREE WORDS IN A SENTENCE

PROCEDURE The words used are:--

(a) _Boy_, _ball_, _river_. (b) _Work_, _money_, _men_. (c) _Desert_, _rivers_, _lakes_.

Say: "_You know what a sentence is, of course. A sentence is made up of some words which say something. Now, I am going to give you three words, and you must make up a sentence that has all three words in it. The three words are 'boy,' 'ball,' 'river.' Go ahead and make up a sentence that has all three words in it._" The others are given in the same way.

Note that the subject is not shown the three words written down, and that the reply is to be given orally.

If the subject does not understand what is wanted, the instruction may be repeated, but it is not permissible to illustrate what a sentence is by giving one. There must be no preliminary practice.

A curious misunderstanding which is sometimes encountered comes from assuming that the sentence must be constructed entirely of the three words given. If it appears that the subject is stumbling over this difficulty, we explain: "_The three words must be put with some other words so that all of them together will make a sentence._"

Nothing is said about hurrying, but if a sentence is not given within one minute the rule is to count that part of the test a failure and to proceed to the next trio of words.

Give only one trial for each part of the test.

Do not specially caution the child to avoid giving more than one sentence, as this is implied in the formula used and should be understood.

SCORING. The test is passed if _two of the three_ sentences are satisfactory. In order to be satisfactory a sentence must fulfill the following requirements: (1) It must either be a simple sentence, or, if compound, must not contain more than two distinct ideas; and (2) it must not express an absurdity.

Slight changes in one or more of the key words are disregarded, as _river_ for _rivers_, etc.

The scoring is difficult enough to justify rather extensive illustration.

(a) _Boy, ball, river_

_Satisfactory._ An analysis of 128 satisfactory responses gave the following classification:--

(1) Simple sentence containing a simple subject and a simple predicate; as: "The boy threw his ball into the river." "The boy lost his ball in the river." "The boy's ball fell into the river." "The boy swam into the river after his ball," etc. This group contains 76 per cent of the correct responses.

(2) A sentence with a simple subject and a compound predicate; as: "A boy went to the river and took his ball with him." About 8 per cent of all were of this type.

(3) A complex sentence containing a relative clause (2 per cent only); as: "The boy ran after his ball which was rolling toward the river."

(4) A compound sentence containing two independent clauses (about 14 per cent); as: "The boy had a ball and he lost it in the river."

_Unsatisfactory._ The failures fall into four chief groups:--

(1) Sentences with three clauses (or else three separate sentences).

(2) Sentences containing an absurdity.

(3) Sentences which omit one of the key words.

(4) Silence, due ordinarily to inability to comprehend the task.

Group 1 includes 78 per cent of the failures; group 2, about 12 per cent; and group 3 and 4 about 5 per cent each. Samples of group 1 are: "There was a boy, and he bought a ball, and it fell into the river." "I saw a boy, and he had a ball, and he was playing by the river." Illustration of an absurd sentence, "The boy was swimming in the river and he was playing ball."

(b) _Work, money, men_

_Satisfactory_:--

(1) Sentence with a simple subject and simple predicate (including 75 per cent of 116 satisfactory responses); as: "Men work for their money." "Men get money for their work," etc.

(2) A complex sentence with a relative clause (12 per cent of correct answers); as: "Men who work earn much money." "It is easy for men to earn money if they are willing to work," etc.

(3) A compound sentence with two independent, coördinate clauses (13 per cent); as: "Men work and they earn money." "Some men have money and they do not work."

_Unsatisfactory_:--

(1) Three clauses; as: "I know a man and he has money, and he works at the store."

(2) Sentences which are absurd or meaningless; as: "Men work with their money."

(3) Omission of one of the words.

(4) Inability to respond.

(c) _Desert, rivers, lakes_

_Satisfactory_:--

(1) Sentences with a simple subject and a simple predicate (including 84 per cent of 126 correct answers); as: "There are no rivers or lakes in the desert." "The desert has one river and one lake," etc.

(2) A complex sentence with a relative clause (only 2 per cent); as: "In the desert there was a river which flowed into a lake."

(3) A compound sentence with two independent, coördinate clauses (11 per cent); as: "We went to the desert, and it had no rivers or lakes."

(4) A compound, complex sentence (3 per cent of all); as: "There was a desert, and near by there was a river that emptied into a lake."

_Unsatisfactory_:--

(1) Sentences with three clauses (40 per cent of all failures); as: "A desert is dry, rivers are long, lakes are rough."

(2) Sentences containing an absurdity (12 per cent of the failures): as: "a desert is dry, rivers are long, lakes are filled with swimming boys." "The lake went through the desert and the river." "There was a desert and rivers and lakes in the forest." "The desert is full of rivers and lakes."

(3) Omission of one of the words (40 per cent of the failures).

(4) Inability to respond (8 per cent).

REMARKS. The test of constructing a sentence containing given words was first used by Masselon and is known as "the Masselon experiment." Meumann, who used it in a rather extended experiment,[65] finds it a good test of intelligence and a reliable index as to the richness, definiteness, and maturity of the associative processes. As Meumann shows, it is instructive to study the qualitative differences between the responses of bright and dull children, apart from questions of sentence structure. These differences are especially discernible in (a) the logical qualities of the associations, and (b) the definiteness of statement. As regards (a), bright children are much more likely to use the given words as keystones in the construction of a sentence which would be logically suggested by them. For example, _donkey_, _blows_, suggest some such sentence as, "The donkey receives blows because he is lazy." In like manner we have found that the words _work_, _money_, _men_ usually suggest to the more intelligent children a sentence like "Men work for their money" (or "because they need money," etc.), while the dull child is more likely to give some such sentence as "The men have work and they don't have much money." That is, the sentence of the dull child, even though correct in structure and free enough from outright absurdity to satisfy the standard of scoring which we have set forth, is likely to express ideas which are more or less nondescript, ideas not logically suggested by the set of words given.

[65] "Ueber eine neue Methode der Intelligenzprüfung und über den Wert der Kombinationsmethoden," in _Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie und Experimentelle Pädagogik_ (1912), pp. 145-63.

The experiment is one of the many forms of the "completion test," or "the combination method." As we have already noted, the power to combine more or less separate and isolated elements into a logical whole is one of the most essential features of intelligence. The ability to do so in a given case depends, in the first place, upon the number and logical quality of the associations which have previously been made with each of the given elements separately, and in the second place, upon the readiness with which these ideational stores yield up the particular associations necessary for weaving the given words into some kind of unity. The child must pass from what is given to what is not given but merely suggested. This requires a certain amount of invention. Scattered fragments must be conceived as the skeleton of a thought, and this skeleton, or partial skeleton, must be assembled and made whole. The task is analogous to that which confronts the palæontologist, who is able to reconstruct, with a high degree of certainty, the entire skeleton of an extinct animal from the evidence furnished by three or four fragments of bones. It is no wonder, therefore, that subjects whose ideational stores are scanty, and whose associations are based upon accidental rather than logical connections, find the test one of peculiar difficulty. Invention thrives in a different soil.

Binet located this test in year X. Goddard and Kuhlmann assign it the same location, though their actual statistics agree closely with our own. Our procedure makes the test somewhat easier than that of Binet, who gave only one trial and used the somewhat more difficult words _Paris_, _river_, _fortune_. Others have generally followed the Binet procedure, merely substituting for Paris the name of a city better known to the subject. Binet's requirement of a written response also makes the test harder.

Perhaps the greatest obstacle to uniformity in the use of the test comes from the difficulty of scoring, particularly in deciding whether the sentence contains enough absurdity to disqualify it, and whether it expresses three separate ideas or only two. It is hoped that the rather large variety of sample responses which we have given will reduce these difficulties to a minimum.

An additional word is necessary in regard to what constitutes an absurdity in (b). A sentence like "There are some rivers and lakes in the desert" is not an absurdity in certain parts of Western United States. In Professor Ordahl's tests at Reno, Nevada, many children whose intelligence was altogether above suspicion gave this reply. The statement is, indeed, perfectly true for the semi-arid region in the vicinity of Reno known as "the desert." On the other hand, such sentences as "The desert is full of rivers and lakes," or "There are forty rivers and lakes in the desert," can hardly be considered satisfactory. Similar difficulties are presented by (c), though not so frequently. "Men who work do not have money" expresses, unfortunately, more truth than nonsense.

IX, 6. FINDING RHYMES

PROCEDURE. Say to the child: "_You know what a rhyme is, of course. A rhyme is a word that sounds like another word. Two words rhyme if they end in the same sound. Understand?_" Whether the child says he understands or not, we proceed to illustrate what a rhyme is, as follows: "_Take the two words 'hat' and 'cat.' They sound alike and so they make a rhyme. 'Hat,' 'rat,' 'cat,' 'bat' all rhyme with one another._"

That is, we first explain what a rhyme is and then we give an illustration. A large majority of American children who have reached the age of 9 years understand perfectly what a rhyme is, without any illustration. A few, however, think they understand, but do not; and in order to insure that all are given equal advantage it is necessary never to omit the illustration.

After the illustration say: "_Now, I am going to give you a word and you will have one minute to find as many words as you can that rhyme with it. The word is 'day.' Name all the words you can think of that rhyme with 'day.'_"

If the child fails with the first word, before giving the second we repeat the explanation and give sample rhymes for _day_; otherwise we proceed without further explanation to _mill_ and _spring_, saying, "_Now, you have another minute to name all the words you can think of that rhyme with 'mill,'_" etc. Apart from the mention of "one minute" say nothing to suggest hurrying, as this tends to throw some children into mental confusion.

SCORING. Passed if in _two out of the three_ parts of the experiment the child finds _three words_ which rhyme with the word given, the time limit for each series being _one minute_. Note that in each case there must be three words in addition to the word given. These must be real words, not meaningless syllables or made-up words. However, we should be liberal enough to accept such words as _ding_ (from "ding-dong ") for _spring_, _Jill_ (see "Jack and Jill") for _mill_, _Fay_ (girl's name) for _day_, etc.

REMARKS. At first thought it would seem that the demands made by this test upon intelligence could not be very great. Sound associations between words may be contrasted unfavorably with associations like those of cause and effect, part to whole, whole to part, opposites, etc. But when we pass from _a-priori_ considerations to an examination of the actual data, we find that the giving of rhymes is closely correlated with general intelligence.

The 9-year-olds who test at or above 10 years nearly always do well in finding rhymes, while 9-year-olds who test as low as 8 years seldom pass. When a test thus shows high correlation with the scale as a whole, we must either accept the test as valid or reject the scale altogether. While the feeble-minded do not do as well in this test as normal children of corresponding mental age, the percentage successes for them rises rapidly between mental age 8 and mental age 10 or 11.

Closer psychological analysis of the processes involved will show why this is true. To find rhymes for a given word means that one must hunt out verbal associations under the direction of a guiding idea. Every word has innumerable associations and many of these tend, in greater or less degree, to be aroused when the stimulus word is given. In order to succeed with the test, however, it is necessary to inhibit all associations which are not relevant to the desired end. The directing idea must be held so firmly in mind that it will really direct the thought associations. Besides acting to inhibit the irrelevant, it must create a sort of magnetic stress (to borrow a figure from physics) which will give dominance to those associative tendencies pointing in the right direction. Even the feeble-minded child of imbecile grade has in his vocabulary a great many words which rhyme with _day_, _mill_, and _spring_. He fails on the test because his verbal associations cannot be subjugated to the influence of a directing idea. The end to be attained does not dominate consciousness sufficiently to create more than a faint stress. Instead of a single magnetic pole there is a conflict of forces. The result is either chaos or partial success. _Mill_ may suggest _hill_, and then perhaps the directing idea becomes suddenly inoperative and the child gives _mountain_, _valley_, or some other irrelevant association. The lack of associations, however, is a more frequent cause of failure than inability to inhibit the irrelevant.

If any one supposes that finding rhymes does not draw upon the higher mental powers, let him try the experiment upon himself in various stages of mental efficiency, say at 9 A.M., when mentally refreshed by a good night of sleep and again when fatigued and sleepy. Poets questioned by Galton on this point all testified to the greater difficulty of finding rhymes when mentally fatigued. In this and in many other respects the mental activities of the fatigued or sleepy individual approach the type of mentation which is normal to the feeble-minded.

It is important to note that adults make a less favorable showing in this test than normal children of corresponding mental age, Mr. Knollin's "hoboes" of 12-year intelligence doing hardly as well as school children of 10-year intelligence. Those who are habitually employed in school exercises probably acquire an adeptness in verbal associations which is later gradually lost in the preoccupations of real life.

There has been more disagreement as to the proper location of this test than of any other test of the Binet scale. Binet placed it in year XII of the 1908 scale, but shifted it to year XV in 1911. Kuhlmann retains it in year XII, while Goddard drops it down to year XI. However, when we examine the actual statistics for normal children we do not find very marked disagreement, and such disagreement as is present can be largely accounted for by variations in procedure and by differing conclusions drawn from identical data. In the first place, Binet gave but one trial. This, of course, makes the test much harder than when three trials are given and only two successes are required. To make one trial equal in difficulty to three trials we should perhaps need to demand only two rhymes, instead of three, in the one trial. In the second place, the word used by Binet (_obeissance_) is much harder than one-syllable words like _day_, _mill_, and _spring_. Finally, the wide shift of the test from year XII to year XV was not justified by the statistics of Binet himself, and the figures of Kuhlmann and Goddard are really in exceptionally close agreement with our own, notwithstanding the fact that Goddard required three successes instead of two. In four series of tests, considered together, we have found 62 per cent passing at year IX, 81 per cent at year X, 83 per cent at year XI, and 94 per cent at year XII.

IX, ALTERNATIVE TEST 1: NAMING THE MONTHS

PROCEDURE. Simply ask the subject to "_name all the months of the year_." Do not start him off by naming one month; give no look of approval or disapproval as the months are being named, and make no suggestions or comments of any kind.

When the months have been named, we "check up" the performance by asking: "_What month comes before April?_" "_What month comes before July?_" "_What month comes before November?_"

SCORING. Passed if the months are named in about _fifteen or twenty seconds with no more than one error_ of omission, repetition, or displacement, and if _two out of the three check questions_ are answered correctly. Disregard place of beginning.

REMARKS. Some are inclined to consider this test of little value, because of its supposed dependence on accidental training. With this opinion we cannot fully agree. The arguments already given in favor of the retention of naming the days of the week (year VII), apply equally well in the present case. It has been shown, however, that age, apart from intelligence, does have some effect on the ability to name the months. Defective adults of 9-year intelligence do about as well with it as normal children of 10-year intelligence.

The test appears in year X of Binet's 1908 scale and in year IX of the 1911 revision. Goddard places it correctly in year IX, while Kuhlmann and Bobertag have omitted it.

IX, ALTERNATIVE TEST 2: COUNTING THE VALUE OF STAMPS

PROCEDURE. Place before the subject a cardboard on which are pasted three 1-cent and three 2-cent stamps arranged as follows: 111222. Be sure to lay the card so that the stamps will be right side up for the child. Say: "_You know, of course, how much a stamp like this costs_ (pointing to a 1-cent stamp). _And you know how much one like this costs_ (pointing to a 2-cent stamp). _Now, how much money would it take to buy all these stamps?_"

Do not tell the individual values of the stamps if these are not known, for it is a part of the test to ascertain whether the child's spontaneous curiosity has led him to find out and remember their values. If the individual values are known, but the first answer is wrong, a second trial may be given. In such cases, however, it is necessary to be on guard against guessing.

If the child merely names an incorrect sum without saying anything to indicate how he arrived at his answer, it is well to tell him to figure it up aloud. "_Tell me how you got it._"

SCORING. Passed if the correct value is given in not over fifteen seconds.

REMARKS. The value of this test may be questioned on two grounds: (1) That it has an ambiguous significance, since failure to pass it may result either from incorrect addition or from lack of knowledge of the individual values of the stamps; (2) that familiarity with stamps and their values is so much a matter of accident and special instruction that the test is not fair.

Both criticisms are in a measure valid. The first, however, applies equally well to a great many useful intelligence tests. In fact, it is only a minority in which success depends on but one factor. The other criticism has less weight than would at first appear. While it is, of course, not impossible for an intelligent child to arrive at the age of 9 years without having had reasonable opportunity to learn the cost of the common postage stamps, the fact is that a large majority have had the opportunity and that most of those of normal intelligence have taken advantage of it. It is necessary once more to emphasize the fact that in its method of locating a test the Binet system makes ample allowance for "accidental" failures.

Like the tests of naming coins, repeating the names of the days of the week or the months of the year, giving the date, tying a bow-knot, distinguishing right and left, naming the colors, etc., this one also throws light on the child's spontaneous interest in common objects. It is mainly the children of deficient intellectual curiosity who do not take the trouble to learn these things at somewhere near the expected age.

The test was located in year VIII of the Binet scale. However, Binet used coins, three single and three double sous. Since we do not have either a half-cent or a 2-cent coin, it has been necessary to substitute postage stamps. This changes the nature of the test and makes it much harder. It becomes less a test of ability to do a simple sum, and more a test of knowledge as to the value of the stamps used. That the test is easy enough for year VIII when it can be given in the original form is indicated by all the French, German, and English statistics available, but four separate series of Stanford tests agree in finding it too hard for year VIII when stamps are substituted and the test is carried out according to the procedure described above.