6 T. H. Pear, Xumber-Forms 



definite line, but a sense of division " between zero and -i» 

 and is then '' conscious of numbers up to - lo being- there." 

 The minus figures, she writes, '^ are very indistinct and in 

 darkness; for some reason I connect all below o with Hell." 

 This condensation of a numerical with an eschatological 

 meaning illustrates a trait rather unusual in number-forms; 

 the usual characteristic of this class being, to use a popular 

 expression, " to keep themselves to themselves." The 

 discovery of the reason for this exclusiveness might cast more 

 light on the relation between image and meaning. 



The Development of Number- forms. 



According to G. E. Miiller, persons have been observed in 

 whom a number-form existed before the knowledge of numbers, 

 and before its possessor could read. He suggests that the 

 new direction so often taken at lo, 20 or another low number, 

 may be due to the development of the form beginning at the 

 time when the child learns to count, and ending when he has 

 achieved the performance of counting up to 100. Yet forms 

 certainlv exist which, arising in early childhood, were subse- 

 quent! v supplemented or modified under the influence of new 

 needs or ways of living : Flournoy (2) mentions one which 

 appeared in the 17th or i8th vear of life. 



The effect upon a number-form of the passage of time is 

 interesting in manv ways. Galton, when he described these 

 phenomena in 1883, had few data upon which to base any 

 general statement. He quotes Colonel Yule, who writes that 

 he found his number-form to have become sensibly weaker in 

 later years : "It is now faint and hard to fix " (3, 95). But 

 in 1919 Professor Sir Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., whose number- 

 form was described by Galton (3, 94-95 ; PI. I, Fig. 21) in 1883, 

 kindly sent me the following answers to my questions. — 



(a) Has the number-form changed at all between 1883 and 

 1919? 



'' I find no change." 



(b) Has the number-form become sensibh' weaker in later 

 years ? 



'' My impression is that the vividness simply depends 

 on use. When I work much with figures, and more 

 especially with questions that involve historical dates, as I 

 had to do recently, the form is as vivid as ever it was. 

 For centuries in historical dates I depend on associations. 

 I would think of Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Newton, as the 

 case may be. The result is that I frequently make a 



