1881.J on thr Visions of Sane Prrsou}^. 645 



The lowest order of j>lienomeiia tlmt admit of being elafised as 

 visions are the "Number forms" to wliieli I liavo drawn attention on 

 more tlian one occasion, but to wliicli I must again very briefly allude. 

 They are faint and fitful in many cliildren, but are an abi<ling mental 

 peculiarity in a certain projiortion (say 5 per cent,) of adults, who aro 

 unable, and wlio have been ever unable as far back as they can recollect, 

 to think of any number without referring it to its own particular 

 habitat in their mental field of view. It there lies latent, but is 

 instantly evoked by the thought or mention of it, or by any mental 

 operation in which it is concerned. The thought of a series of 

 consecutive numbers is therefore attended by a vision of them 

 arranged in a perfectly defined and constant position, and this I liavo 

 called a " Number form." Its origin can rarely bo referred to 

 any nursery diagram, to the clock-face, or to any incident of child- 

 hood. Nay, the form is frequently unlike anything the child could 

 possibly have seen, reaching in long vistas and perspectives, and in 

 curves of double curvature. I have even had to get wire models 

 made by some of my informants in explanation of what they wished to 

 convey. The only feature that all the forms have in common is their 

 dependence in some way or other upon the method of verbal counting, 

 as shown by their angles and other divisions occurring at such points 

 as those where the 'teens begin, at the twenty's, thirty's, and so on. 

 The forms are in each case absolutely unchangeable, except through 

 a gradual development in complexity. Their diversity is endless, and 

 the Number forms of different persons are mutually unintelligible. 



These strange " visions," for such they must be called, are 

 extremely vivid in some cases but are almost incredible to the vast 

 majority of mankind, who would set them down as fantastic nonsense ; 

 nevertheless, they are familiar parts of the mental furniture of tho 

 rest, in whose imaginations they have been unconsciously formed and 

 where they remain unmodified and uumodifiable by teaching. I have 

 received many touching accounts of their childish experiences from 

 persons who see the Number forms, and the other curious visions of 

 which I shall speak. As is the case with the colour-blind, so with 

 these seers. They imagined at first that everybody else had the same 

 way of regarding things as themselves. Then they betrayed their 

 peculiarities by some chance remark that called forth a stare of 

 surprise, followed by ridicule and a sharp scolding for their silliness, 

 so that the poor little things shrunk back into themselves, and never 

 ventured again to allude to their inner world. I will quote just one 

 of many similar letters as a sample. I received this, together with 

 much interesting information, immediately after a lecture I gave last 

 autumn to the British Association at Swansea* in which I had occasion 

 to speak of the Number forms. The writer says : — 



" I had no idea for many years, that every one did not imagine 

 numbers in the same positions as those in which they appear to me. 

 One unfortunate day I spoke of it, and was sharply rebuked for my 



* See • Fortnightly Review,' September 1880. 



