506 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



at least without once fixing his attention upon it or speaking of 

 it to his nearest friends, although such a one might use his form 

 in daily computation. It seems to him quite natural to see the 

 numbers in that way, and the thought may never enter his mind 

 that others should see them differently. Again, if one is con- 

 scious of a peculiar form, he regards 

 it as an idiosyncrasy and exhibits a 

 certain shyness in revealing it. For 

 this reason it is especially hard to get 

 all the number forms from a com- 

 Fig. 5. pany of children. They do not like 



to be laughed at, and will willingly 

 keep silent about anything which they suspect may be another of 

 those idiosyncrasies causing such mental torment to many chil- 

 dren. Finally, those who do not have complicated forms are apt 

 to think that the little curve, twist, or angle in which they see the 

 numbers is quite too trifling a matter to mention. I am inclined 

 to believe that one out of six adults would be a more accurate 

 proportion, that the proportion among children would be still 

 greater, and that it is perhaps a little more common among women 

 than men. 



The questions one would naturally ask a person having a num- 

 ber form are these : " How long have you seen the numbers in this 

 way ? Is the form fixed or is it changeable ? What was its ori- 

 gin ? " The answers to these questions are almost absolutely in- 

 variable. They would be as follows : " I have seen the numbers 

 in this way ever since I can remember. The form is fixed and un- 

 changeable. Its origin I do not know." In a very few cases when 

 the nine digits always appear in mental vision as a mere straight 

 line from left to right, the subject may conjecture that it origi- 

 nated with the printed forms from which they were learned. I 

 have found that certain simple kinds of alphabet forms are very 

 common. If a number of people be asked whether, when they 

 think of the alphabet from 

 a to z, they see it in a visual 

 picture, and if so in what 

 particular form, it will be Fig. 6. 



found that a considerable 



number will say that they see the letters in one, two, or three 

 vertical columns reading downward. A simple illustration is seen 

 in Fig. 7. When there are two or three columns, the same letter 

 always appears to a given person at the top of each column, but I 

 have not found two forms alike gxcept when they consist of a 

 single straight line. In these cases the suggestion is often made 

 by the seer that the letters were so arranged in his primer. Ob- 

 viously this explanation would not apply to any such alphabet 



