274 Life and Let tern of Francis Gait on 



more imjwrtnnt in tin- on-afion of vanHti»\>^ fli.m iiitervarietal storilitv is not 

 really iiHected by it. 



In the tbllowiiij; yeur (1887) (Jaltou luul a considurablo iliscussion in 

 Xature^ with Professor Max Miiller on "Tliought without Words." The 

 latter in his Science of Thought had propounded theories of the descent of 

 man entirely based on the hypothesis that tin- most rudimentary processes 

 of true thought cjinnot be carried on witliout words. Hence Ma.x Miiller as- 

 serted that the constitution of the mind of the only truly sjwjiiking animal, 

 man, sepanites him immeasurably from the brutes, and no jn-ocess of evolu- 

 tion which advanced by small steps could stride over such a gulf Galton 

 states that if a single instance can be substantiated of man thinking without 

 words the whole of Max Miiller's anthropologicid theory nnist collapse. 

 Galton then appeals to results he had observed by his own introspection, 

 and holds that ho has often thought entirely without words. For example: 



"It happens tliiit I take pleasure in mechanical contrivances, and the simpler of these are 

 thought out by nic absolutely without the use of any mental wonls. Sup|K)8c Komclliiiig do«;s 

 not lit; I examine it, go to uiy tools, pick out the; right ones, uud set to work and rcpuir the 

 defect, often without a single word cixMising my mind." (p. 28.) 



He then refers to billianls and chess; where the strokes and moves are 

 visualised without words beforehand ; also to fencing, where there is no 

 time to think in words, before the counter is given. It seems undoubtedly 

 clear that those who visualise vividly will think in pictures as readily as in 

 words, or even more readily'. Galton considers that Max Miiller failed in 

 reaching a true hypothesis because he generalised from his own mind, and 

 considered that the mind of every one else was like his own (see our p. 243). 



"lieforu a just knowledge c<in be attained concerning any fiiculty of the liumun race we 

 must inquire into its distribution among all sorts and condition.s of men, and on a large scale, 

 and not among those jhtsoiis alone wlio belong to ii highly sixfialiswi literary class. I have 

 inquired my.self .so far as op{Hirtunities admitted, and arrived at a result that contradicts the 

 fundamental proposition in the Issjk before us, having ascertaine<l to my own salisfaclion al. 

 least, that in a relatively small number of persons true thought is habitually carrietl on 

 without use of mental or spoken words." (p. 29.) 



The reader who wishes to follow the discussion further will tind two 

 letters of Max Miiller and a further letter from Galton in Nature. To the 

 present writer Max Miiller's resusoning seems very obscure. Replying to 

 Galton 8 illustmtion of chess-playing, he writes : 



"You cannot move queen or knight as niei-e dolls. In chess each one of thi'se figures can 

 be moved according to its name and concept only. ( otherwise chess would Ix^ a chaotic 

 scramble, not an intelligent game." (p. 101.) 



But surely the moves of any piece at chess may l)e a.ssociated with the 



form of the piece and not with its name? Max Miiller obscures the matter 



by adding tlie words "and concept." A concept may be attached to an 



' .May 12 and June 2, Vol. .xxxvi, pp. 28-!) and 100-101. 



' 8onie of Galt^jn's correspondents in discussing mental imagery, stat<Hl that they depended 

 so much on mental pictures, that if they lost the ptiwer of seeing them, they would not be 

 *ble to think at all. 



