weighted down by ball and chain, but as an eager prospector infatuated
by the lust for gold. Encouraged by the continual stores of new things
he uncovers, intoxicated by the ozone of mental activity, he delves
continually deeper until finally he emerges rich with knowledge and
full of power--the intellectual power that signifies mastery over a
subject.

READINGS AND EXERCISES

Readings: James (8) Chapters X and XI. Dewey (3)

Exercise I. Show how your interest in some subject, for example, the
game of foot-ball, has grown in proportion to the number of facts you
have discovered about it and the activity you have exerted toward it.

Exercise 2. Choose some subject in which you are not at present
interested. Make the statement:--"I am determined to develop an
interest in--. I will take the following specific steps toward this
end."

CHAPTER XII

THE PLATEAU OF DESPOND

In our investigation of the psychology of study we have so far directed
our attention chiefly toward the subjective side of the question,
seeking to discover the _contents_ of mind during study. We shall now
take an objective view of study, examining not the contents of mind nor
methods of study, but the objective results of study. In doing this, we
choose certain units of measurement, the number of minutes required for
learning a given amount or the amount learned in a stated period of
time. We may do this for the learning of any material, whether it be
Greek verbs or typewriting. All that is necessary is to decide upon
some method by which progress can be noted and expressed in numerical
units. This, you will observe, constitutes a statistical approach to
the processes of study, such as is employed in science; and just as the
statistical method has been useful in science, so it may be of value in
education, and by means of statistical investigations of learning we
may hope to discover some of the factors operative in good learning.

Progress in learning is best observable when we represent our
measurements graphically, when they take the form of a curve, variously
called "the curve of efficiency," "practice curve," "learning curve."
We shall take a sample curve for the basis of our discussion, showing
the progress of a beginner in the Russian language for sixty-five days
(indicated in the figure by horizontal divisions). The student studied
industriously for thirty minutes each day and then translated as
rapidly as possible for fifteen