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Show AVIATORS GIVEN HARD TEST Fliers In the Service of France Must 1 Measure Up to Strictest of Requirements. The ncceptnnce as aviators In the French service of so many sons of wealthy American families proves that these young men are fur from being the "flanneled fools and muddled oafs" whom Kipling once railed against on the other side of the water. The physical phys-ical nrjd mental requirements of the French service, In the case of aviators, are of the severest sort. They are now being tested not only for strength and ordinary Intelligence, but are required re-quired to demonstrate the quickness of their, response to visual, auditory audi-tory aud tactual impression, their "psychometric reactions ;" that is to say, they are required to prove that to , anything that is suddenly seen, or heard, or felt, their minds react accurately ac-curately within a space of time that figures itself down to hundredths of a second. Without this quickness of perception per-ception nnd of action upon perception, in addition to iron courage nnd endurance, endur-ance, the war aviator is of little use. The apparatus of the French service even tests the candidate's sang froid ; by recording his heart-beats, his color, his movement or absence of movement, under the stress of a sin-prise pistol shot fired at the back of his neck. Then, supposing that his "psychometric reactions" are all right, the man must have good knowledge of the rules of war, of geography, of meteorology, and other things besides. And finally he must be willing to subject himself, as a corporal or a sergeant, to an army discipline much severer than anything he has ever known before. It Is fair to assume that the successful American Ameri-can candidate for this service, has prnved his possession of the real stuff of manhood. |