646 Mr. F. Galton [May 13, 



absurdity. Being a very sensitive child I felt this acutely, but nothing 

 ever shook my belief that, absurd or not, I always saw numbers in this 

 particular way. I began to be ashamed of what I considered a pecu- 

 liarity, and to imagine myself, from this and various other mental 

 beliefs and states, as somewhat isolated and peculiar. At your lecture 

 the other night, though I am now over twenty-nine, the memory 

 of my childish misery at the dread of being peculiar came over 

 me so strongly, that I felt I must thank you for proving that, in 

 this particular at any rate, my case is most common." 



The next form of vision of which I will speak is the instant asso- 

 ciation of colour with sound, which characterises a small percentage 

 of adults, but appears to be rather common, though in an ill-developed 

 degree, among children. I can here appeal not only to my own 

 collection of facts, but to those of others, for the subject has latterly 

 excited some interest in Germany. The first widely known case was 

 that of the brothers Nussbaumer, published in 1873 by Professor 

 Bruhl, of Vienna, of which the English reader will find an account in 

 the last volume of Lewis's ' Problems of Life and Mind '(p. 280). Since 

 then many occasional notices of similar associations have appeared, 

 but I was not aware that it had been inquired into on a large scale by 

 any one but myself. However, I was gratified by meeting with a 

 pamplilet a few weeks ago, just published in Leipsic by two Swiss, 

 investigators, Messrs. Blenler and Lehniann. Their collection of 

 cases is full/ as large as my own, and their results in the more im- 

 portant matters are similar to mine. One of the two authors had the 

 faculty very strongly, and the other had not ; so they worked con- 

 jointly with advantage. As my present object is to subordinate 

 details to the general impression that I wish to convey of the 

 visionary tendency of certain minds, I will simply remark, first, that 

 the persistence of the colour association with sounds is fully as re- 

 markable as that of the Number form with numbers. Secondly, that 

 the vowel sounds chiefly evoke them. Thirdly, that the seers are 

 invariably most minute in their description of the precise tint and 

 hue of the colour. They are never satisfied, for instance, with saying 

 " blue," but will take a great deal of trouble to express or to match 

 the particular blue they mean. Lastly, no two people agree, or 

 hardly ever do so, as to the colour they associate with the same sound. 

 I have hung upon the wall one of the most extraordinary diagrams of 

 these colour associations that has, I suppose, ever been produced. It 

 was drawn by Mr. J. Key, of Graham's Town, South Africa. He sent 

 me in the first instance a communication on the subject, which led to 

 further correspondence, and eventually to the production of this 

 diagram of colours in connection with letters and words. I have no 

 reason to doubt its trustworthiness, and am bound to say that, strange 

 as it looks, and elaborate as it is, I have other written accounts that 

 almost match it. 



A third curious and abiding fantasy of certain persons is in- 

 variably to connect visualised pictures with words, the same picture 



