ON SOME MINOR PSYCHOLOGICAL INTERFERENCES. 93 Ben Jonson, " Thou chooseth death " ; under (3), in an examination-paper, Sberri/ for sheriff (although, by-the-bye, the former is really a much better spelling) ; and under (4), in the " Introduction " to the same Ben Jonson, " Nor is it to be forgotten . . . " ; in the aforesaid Logic, " ~Both may be truth (for true), but not both false "; in a Letter in the r, " Comci'emcious " ; in a Letter in " the Daily News," " Tennyson takes thinks on hearsay"; in another column Mrs. il/ramwell (for ramwell) Booth. No doubt instances might have been multiplied without limit, if it had been convenient for me to continue to look for and record them. In closing I will venture to suggest that some utility may lurk under the mere curiosities (as they may seem) of the foregoing " Study ". From my own limited observation I infer that errors not a few, of the kinds above considered, besides others that are special to the process of copying, occur in old MSS., of all ages and languages ; and I am told that even Inscriptions are not free from them. It may be, although I am unaware of it, that there are in our country " schools " of Archaeology in which special attention is given to the linguistic side of that subject. Anyhow, it seems to me that students who are about to devote themselves to the study of ancient codices would find their work much lightened by a preliminary drill, interesting in itself, in the classifica- tion, from a psychological point of view, of errors which, like those above treated, they are sure to meet with : their chief difficulties would then be limited to the sporadic irre- ducible instances. Again, in the case of examinations of young people in which spelling counts, the Examiner should not, I think, give bad marks for mistakes falling within our five categories, unless, at least, the candidates have had instructions, and have been allowed time, to read over their answers.
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