GUESSING AND NUMBER PREFERENCES. 781 



in her gift of warmth and the magic of reproductive life, that each 

 year came with the light to drive away the frost giants. And with 

 the goddess, whom we still love to picture as a maiden tripping lightly 

 through the budding groves in her wind-blown garments, came the 

 birds. It was the cuckoo that brought the summer with " daisies 

 pied and violets blue," and to-day, when its voice is heard for the 

 first time in the year, every one knows that summer has come again 

 to the hedgerows of England and the lands of the Ehine. So with 

 us across the Atlantic, summer comes when the catbird first pours out 

 its babel of sweet notes in green woodland ways and the tangled nooks 

 of old gardens. 



GUESSING, AS INFLUENCED BY NUMBER 

 PREFERENCES. 



By F. B. DRESSLAE. 



ABOUT two years ago a certain progressive clothing company of 

 Los Angeles, California, procured a very large squash — so 

 large, indeed, as to attract much attention. This they placed uncut 

 in a window of their place of business, and advertised that they would 

 give one hundred dollars in gold to the one guessing the number of 

 seeds it contained. In case two or more persons guessed the correct 

 number, the money was to be divided equally among them. The 

 only prerequisite for an opportunity to guess was that the one wishing 

 to guess should walk inside and register his name, address, and his 

 guess in the notebook kept for that purpose. 



The result of this offer was that 7,700 people registered guesses, 

 and but three of these guessed 811, the number of seeds which the 

 squash contained. 



It occurred to me that a study of these guesses would reveal some 

 interesting number preferences, if any existed, for the conditions were 

 unusually faA 7 orable for calling forth naive and spontaneous results, 

 there being no way of approximating the number of seeds by calcula- 

 tion, and very little or no definite experience upon which to rely for 

 guidance. It seemed probable, therefore, that the guesses would 

 cover a wide range, and by reason of this furnish evidence of what- 

 ever number preference might exist. It is undoubtedly safe to 

 assume, too, that the guesses made were honest attempts to state as 

 nearly as possible best judgments under conditions given; but even 

 if some of the guesses were more or less facetiously made, the data 

 would be equally valuable for the main purpose in hand. 



According to the theory of probability, had there been no prefer- 

 ence at all for certain digits or certain combinations of digits within 



