Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1883 — Rapidity of Thought. [ARTICLE]

Rapidity of Thought.

Some recent investigations relating to the speed of thought are thus summed up in the American Journal of Arte and Sciences: “Sensations are transmitted to the brain at a rapidity of about 180 feet per second, or at one-fifth the rate of sound; and this is nearly the same in all individuals. The brain requires one-tenth of a second to transmit its orders to the nerves which preside over voluntary action; but this amount varies much in different individuals, and in the same individual at different times, according to the disposition or condition at the time, and is more regular the more sustained the attention. The time required to transmit an order to the muscles by the motor nerves is nearly the same as that required by the nerves of sensation to pass a sensation; moreover, it passes nearly one-hundreth of a second before

the muscles are put in motion. The whole operation requires one and one-fourth to two-tenths of a second Consequently, when we speak of ar aotive, ardent mind, or one that is slow, cold or pathetio, it is not a mere figure of rhetoric, but an absolute and certain fact that such a distinction, with varying gradations, really exists.