Reed College - Griffin Yearbook (Portland, OR)

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REED COLLEGE AFUWUAL e 1915 IWH ority in any particular mental process is correlated with sn- periority in any particular subject and whether there ar any caracteristic sex differences. The work has been under way for three years now and wil probably be continued for some time longer before conclusiv results ar publisht. Gladys Lowden has had charge of much of this work and is using certain of the results in the preparation of a master's thesis. Other students under the direction of the psycology de- partment. hav been interested in the problems of mental mesurement of different groups. Glenn Johnson, assisted by others in the department, is making a study of unemployd men at the Associated Charities and Portland Commons to hnd out if the men more or Ies permanently out of work fall belo a certain level in specific mental functions. Dorothy Walton and Ada McCown at the Police Court, and Irma Lonegren and Ruth Hall at the Louise Home, hav made experiments testing the mental ability of yung women committed for varius 0f- fenses to ascertain. if possible, some relation between mental defect and juvenil delinquency. Verna Menefee and Albert Gentner ar making experi- ments on the psycology of testimony. XVhen individuals 211' required for any reason to giv an account of events not im- mediately experienst, what relation holds between the accuracy of the report after a few moments, and after a longer interval? In questions of the type usually put to witnesses such as estimates of times, numbers, sizes and so forth, wil it be pos- sible to ascertain the types into which individual ansers fall, and according to which such testimony must be judged? This experiment in the perception and memory of witnesses who endevor t0 tel the truth, is intended as a supplement to associa- tion-reaetion tests to find out the truth when the witness wilfully tries to conceal it. Miss Creech has made a study in social psycology by investigation of caracteristic Opinions and changes of opinions in the Reed College group. She hopes to be able to put these changes into grafic form, and to correlate them with rank in Clas, sex, life in the dormitory or in town, and the like, and thus to furnish information as to what may be expected as to Viewpoints in the college group, as they ar related to varia- tions in environment. SOCIAL INVESTIGATION The Annual would not be complete without a statement of some of the activities that at taking place in connection with courses in the social sciences. The method employd in these sciences of using the community as a laboratory for investigation is of particular interest. Some of these problems and the students dealing with them ar numerated belo. A coniparativ study of the City and cnntry vote on pro- posed legislation in Oregon has been made by Delbert French and Delvin Peterson. The results ar based upon the election

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l162l R E E D COLLEGE ANNUAL 4- 1915 Liiidsley Ross, under the direction of Dr. Compton, is studying pseudo-contact differences of potential folloing X-ray discharges, The fenomenon has been observd that if two con- ductors of different materials at brought into contact and then separated they wil hav a difference of potential between them. If the conductors ar used as the electrodes of an X-ray dis- charge in apparatus containing wax the difference is magnified about five hundred times. The experiment is to explain, if possible, this fenonienon. An explanation of the function of rectifying crystals in wireless telegrafy may be developt. Experiments with the DeForest hAudion, an instrument to detect thermionic currents in wireless telegrafy hav been carried on by Joyce Kelly in the fysics department. The object of his experiments was to improve the sensitivness of this in- strument, and thus make possible wireless communication over a greater distance. Altho no definit results hav as yet been workt out, the information at hand seems to indicate that the desired improvements can be made. In the Fysical Review for February, 1915, there appeard the results obtaind by Dr. Compton and Dean XVebster in the development of a method of testing Lord Kelvinis the- oretical formula indicating the amount of heat generated in suddenly stretching a piece of wire. The closest previus ap- proximations to the theoretical result had been with an error of 2.54 percent. By their method the range of error was reduced to .07 percent. The significance of the work was in finding a more accurate method of mesuring heat energy. An experimental test of the molecular theory of magnetism was made by Everett Trousdale tworking with Dr. Comptom in the fysics laboratory. The test consisted of recording X-ray reHections from magnetite and haemitite crystals on foto- grafic plates. No difference was found between the rays reflected from magnetized crystals and non-niagnetized ery- tals, thus disproving a main assumption of the molecular theory that a rearrangement of molecules takes place when a sub- stance is magnetized. Ellis Jones experiment deals with the relation between therino-electromotiv force and contact difference of potential. Dr. Compton has shown from a comparison of certain formulas that a certain relation must hold. The experiment is designd to test this point, rather complicated apparatus being used in order to get exact mesurements of the contact difference of potential between different metals. About a hundred twenty- five dollars worth of radium is being used to ionize the air between the metals. Even if the relation supposed to hold is not proved by the investigation, the results wil probably ad to the experimental knoledge in this comparativly new field of fysics. Probably the most important work of the psycology de- partment is that of giving metal tests to all the college students. The aim is to arrange a set of tests which wil indicate the mental ability of the student, also to determin whether superi-

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l164l R E E D COLLEGE ANNUAL -:- 1915 returns since 1904, from the counties having no city over three thousand in population and from the city of Portland. With the exception of the mesures 0n prohibition and woman suf- frage. each of which receivd a proportionally higher vote in the cuntry, progressiv legislation seems to receive a higher percentage of votes in the city than in the cuntry. Mr. Peterson made a similar examination of the voting in the different districts of Portland. The districts which wer selected correspond to the upper-middle, the 10er-middle, the organized, and the unorganized labor classes. Judging from the votes cast for such mesures as the universal eight- hour law, ventilation for female workers, and the fifteen hundred dollars tax exemption laws, the upper classes may be. said to be the more conservativ. The results of a study by Alvin Shagren of the Portland public market system in comparison with the systems in other cities, seem to sho that the public market is not such a means for reducing the cost of living as is commonly supposed. A survey of the Albina district Of the city of Portland made this year by the neighborhood survey clas under the direction of Mr. Wood, is one of the most important and coniprehensiv pieces of work accomplisht by the sociological department. Tousing conditions, immigrant problems, delin- quency and dependency, recreational faciities, industrial acci- dents and disease, unemployment and industrial occupation of the wage-earners hav been subjects for thoro investigation. An intensiv study of living conditions of nineteen families in the Albina district is also included in the survey. Careful maps. charts, and pictures hav been prepared to bring out the significant facts of the conditions which giV promis of de- veloping into a slum district should the city of Portland per- niit it. These facts wer presented before the Social Wrorkeris Conference held at Reed College in May of this year. Arlien Johnson. Louise Lewis and Gertrude Renter made a survey of the private employment agencies for women in Portland. After Visiting the agencies and talking with people looking for work, they came to the conclusion that there ought to be stricter regulation of these agencies. Carl Rochet made a study shoing the relation of public docks to the industrial development of the City, and a Study of the relation of housing problems to land speculation was undertaken by Otto Schultz. An examination Of the work of Portlanch Helth Bureau made by Margaret Creech indicated that Portland owes its good helth to its natural environment rather than to any precautions taken by the city to preserv public helth. The twenty-one cents per capita spent by the city for public helth, seemd to be an insufficient amount to provide adequate in- spection and activ educational work. Dorothy Elliott made a survey of the helth records of children in the Portland scools, the principal result of which was to sho that much of Portland's heith inspection in scools is renderd inadequate