THE RHYTHM OF PROSE.f DR. PATTERSON approaches the subject of
prose rhythm through the laboratory, not through the library. The student of rhythmics, in their larger application to musical or dance forms, may find his book instruc- tive. But we cannot see that his series of twelve experiments have at present led him to any conclusion which will help or illuminate the ordinary student of prose. These experiments were conducted in a sound-proof room with all the delicate apparatus of sound photography, " time-sense machine," and kymograph, which recorded the results of a number of exceedingly elaborate tests for various kinds of rhythmic consciousness in the twelve students concerned. We arc not so foolish as to demand quick results from empirical methods. The coral red owes its solidity in great measure to the slowness of its rate of increase. But Dr. Patterson is not content to let his monograph lie beneath the waves, a firm fragment of foundation for some later structure. He reaches a conclusion and tenders advice. This advice is little more than that the sucking author should familiarize himself by means of various excellent but elaborate time-tapping devices with the rhythmic times made by the great masters of prose, and then mould his own style upon these models. That seems to bring us back to very much where we started, the bewildering complexity of our way notwithstanding. We prefer Stevenson's plain injunction to " play the sedulous ape."
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