Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 9.djvu/102

88 T. LE MABCHANT DOUSE : possessive ; Femme (steps) for femmine ; Examiwg for exam- wing ; Combmg for combining ; Eembrance for remembrance ; Prcwwced (sape) for pronounced ; Supersiion for superstition ; Petion for petition ; and others. As to some of the instances in which two syllables are alike it may be argued that it is the second which is overleapt, there being a subconscious feeling that when the earlier is written both have been written : such a view is probable in an instance like " This now archaic," for " This is . . ." ; but it certainly will not hold where syllables differ, as in Voculary for voca&ulary ; Charactistic for characteristic ; and others. The curious form Languge for language, which frequently occurred, puzzled me for a moment ; but the explanation appears to be that, as the written (like the italic) a, apart from the final hook, is made exactly like the upper part of the g, only the very slightest mental perturbation is required to make the pen slide on from the back of the a to the tail of the g. (3) This species of interference is a rather familiar one, although the written examples met with were not numerous, and only letters within the same word were affected. It may be called Metallage, or more simply "Cross Compensa- tion,^' a name I gave it towards a quarter of a century ago. Like (2) it is a modification of (1), but involves two correla- tive errors; the first is of the form (1) (i.), i.e., the earlier of two letters is displaced by a later one ; but then, instead of repeating the latter in its proper place, the hand instantly and automatically executes the mental instruction first given it by dashing in the earlier and displaced letter where the later one should be written ; the result, therefore, has the aspect of a simple interchange ; e.g. : SiZi&ants (bis) for sibi- lants ; P/iamplets (bis) for pamphlets ; Padogra for pagoda ; PaiaZals for palatals. A rare variety of this perturbation is seen in "His chiefs work were . . .", for "chief works," where the interchange is between a letter and no-letter ; similar is AcheZmy for aZchemy, the direction of exchange being reversed. A more curious and numerous variety shows interchange, not, generally, between letters, but be- tween duplication and singleness of letters; and here the letters may even be the same ; e.g. : CoZtonade for colonnade ; and so also Eewwaisance ; Phillipi ; ContiZZuafy (with assimi- lation, by (1), of n to ZZ), and Steepe for Steppe : in CoreZZa- tive, paraZeZZ, and guiurrals, the exchange is in reverse order. (4) The three species of Interference just noticed have started from ahead and operated backwards : this section