It is perhaps worthy of note that in this table a still higher rhythmical synthesis of regular form appears in the accented elements if the figures be taken in series of four consecutive pairs of reactions.
In the group of triple rhythms next taken up—the dactylic, the amphibrachic and the anapæstic—each type presents an increase in the duration of the unit group between the beginning and end of the series, but without any regular curve connecting these terms. Neither the average results nor those of the individual subjects show anywhere a decrease of duration in the progress of the tapping. The proportional results for each of the three rhythm forms, and their averages, are given in the following table.
TABLE XXXIX.
| Rhythm. | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Datyl., | 1.000 | 1.062 | 1.062 | 1.087 | 1.087 | 1.075 | 1.125 | 1.112 | 1.125 | 1.112 |
| Amphib., | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.069 | 1.085 | 1.046 | 1.046 | 1.046 | 1.046 | 1.035 |
| Anapæs., | 1.000 | 1.012 | 1.023 | 1.012 | 1.037 | 1.037 | 1.023 | 1.059 | 1.023 | 1.084 |
| Average, | 1.000 | 1.024 | 1.036 | 1.060 | 1.060 | 1.060 | 1.072 | 1.072 | 1.072 | 1.084 |
When all types and subjects are thus combined the summation of these inconstant retardations presents sharply differentiated terms and a curve uninverted at any point.
A separate analysis of the components of the rhythmical group shows, for the dactylic form, an important increase in duration in only one of the three intervals, namely, that following the element which receives accentual stress. The proportional values for these intervals follow.
TABLE XL.
| Interval. | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First, | 1.000 | 1.153 | 1.153 | 1.153 | 1.153 | 1.231 | 1.193 | 1.193 | 1.231 | 1.231 |
| Second, | 1.000 | 0.917 | 0.917 | 1.000 | 0.917 | 0.917 | 0.917 | 0.917 | 0.917 | 0.917 |
| Third | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.033 | 1.066 | 1.055 | 1.066 | 1.133 | 1.066 | 1.066 | 1.066 |
Since the progressive variation does not penetrate the whole measure, but affects only a single constituent having a strongly marked functional character, the process of change becomes unlike that of true retardation. In such a case, if the increase in duration be confined to a single element and parallel the changes in a simultaneous variant of a different order, we should regard them as functionally connected, and therefore interpret the successively greater periods of time occupied by the rhythmical measures as constituting no real slowing of the tempo. The measure of relative tempo in such a case consists in the ratios of the successive durations of the rhythmical units after the subtraction of that element of increase due to this extraneous source. Here, since the increase is confined to that member of the group which receives accentual stress, and since the increase of accentuation is typically accompanied by an extension of the following interval, the changes presented do fulfil the conditions of a progressively increased accentuation of the rhythm group, and to this origin I think it is undoubtedly to be attributed. It is to be noted that the final interval also undergoes a slight increase, while the median suffers a similarly slight decrease in duration as the series progresses.
In the amphibrachic form the changes manifested by the constituents of the unit group are more obscure. No progressive retardation of the accented element is apparent. In the initial and final intervals the difference in duration between the first and last members of the series is small and appears early in the process. If we assume the general application of the laws of change presented in the preceding section, there should be here two influences concerned in the determination of the relations presented, the factors, namely, of position and accent. The falling of the accentual stress on the median interval eliminates one of the two factors of progressive reduction in that element and replaces it by a factor of increase, thereby doing away with the curve of change; while at the same time it decreases the changes which occur in the bounding intervals of the group by removing the accent from the first and by the proximate position of its own accent tending to reduce the last interval.