EXP.  I. (a) F. (80x10); V. (160x10). 
F.                           V.
120                   — 44,
160                   -150, -105,  -88
200                    -94,  -46, -110

(b) F. (160x10); V. (80x10). 
F.                           V.
120                      -70, -80
160                     -114
200                     -155, -146, -148

It will be noticed that, with two exceptions, none of the positions chosen are nearer than 70 mm. to the center, and that most of them are much farther away.  The two lines seem to be more pleasing when they are pretty close together on the same side. S, in I. (b) F. 120, V.-70, notes:  ’If V. is nearer O, there is a tendency to imagine a figure by the connection of the ends of the two lines, which is disagreeable.  ’The only other minus choices were in Exp.  VII., by S,, H, and D. S, F. 120, V.-35, says:  ’Now they can be close together,’ and H, F. 140, 160 and 180, V. -1, -32, -71, notes the same.  So also D, F. 100, V. -12; F. 140, V. -52; F. 160, V. -75; F. 180, V. -95.  It is evident from this insistence on the closeness together of the objects, and this desire to form no figure, that the two are taken as one, and set off against the blackness on the other side.  It seems as if this were not taken as empty space, but acquired a meaning of its own.  The association with pictures in which the empty space is occupied by a deep vista or an expanse of sky is almost irresistible.  The case of Exp.  VII. seems a little different. S, at least, separates the two fields as usual, but for him also the black space is living, ‘corresponds in distance and depth.’  It is at least certain that there is no subjective feeling of emptiness or of unoccupied energies on the empty side.  And it would seem that some influence from the objects sweeps across the central field and vitalizes it.  The most natural view would seem to be that the ease of apperception of the two objects together, and the tendency of the eye movement to begin on the occupied side, and to sweep across to the unoccupied, which we think of as deep, combine to give a feeling of pleasure and of balance.

* * * * *

We have now reached a point from which a backward glance can be cast upon the territory traversed.  Experiment with the isolated elements in pictorial composition has shown that pleasing arrangements of these elements can be interpreted by the formula of mechanical balance.  This principle was obtained by opposing two lines whose relative value (corresponding to ‘weight’ in balance) was known; and it was found that their relative positions corresponded to the relation of the arms of a balance.  Further opposition of lines, of which one was already determined in ‘weight,’ showed the same variations and suggested certain valuations of the undetermined lines on the basis of this common term of weight.