Pianoforte Touch

Abstract

PRESSURE of other work has prevented me from replying earlier to Prof. Pickering's letter in NATURE for July 31. It is, of course, difficult to express any definite opinion about an experiment without fuller knowledge of the circumstances than can be acquired from a mere written description; at the same time it appears to me very easy to suggest explanations for the failure of the experiment. To strike the same note a hundred times in succession is certainly a very severe test to impose on a person's powers of discrimination. In this connection it would be interesting to perform, for the sake of comparison, one hundred tests of a totally different character, say the well-known tests of blindfolding a person and making him taste tea and coffee, according to a prearranged succession. It would be giving the hearer a fairer chance if the experiment were performed by playing over a short sequence of notes, say a simple melody a number of times in succession. I have always performed the test in this manner, and it has generally been successful.