March 25, 1S80] 



NATURE 



495 



equal proportions from either sex. I exhibited copies of 

 fifty-four of them (made by a camera lucida) at the 

 Anthropological Institute on Tuesday, March 9, when I 

 read a paper on the subject. The meeting was attended 

 by several of my correspondents, who are well known in 

 the scientific world, and who explained to the meeting 

 their respective forms. They were Mr. George Bidder, 

 Q.C., the Rev. G. Henslow, Mr. Roget, Mr. Schuster, 

 K.R.S., Mr. 13. Woodd Smith, and Col. Yule, C.B. Two 

 of these, namely, Mr. Henslow and Mr. Schuster, see the 

 forms objectively ; they can point to the direction in which 

 at any moment any particular figure appears to them to 

 lie, and when they move their eyes the form moves too. 

 In the other four cases the close co-ordination between 

 brain and eye does not exist, and their images appear in 

 a sort of dreamland having no strict relation with external 

 space. The form of each observer is quite unserviceable 

 to the rest, having no meaning except to himself. 



The language employed by persons in respect to some 

 of the features of these forms is apt to be very similar. 

 Phrases are frequently met with, such as " Ever since 

 childhood I have always seen . . . " " I cannot account 

 for their origin in any way ; " " It is perfectly independent 

 of the will." I have verbally questioned a great many 

 acquaintances whether they see numerals in any particular 

 way. They usually say No ; they ask what I mean, then 

 profess inability to understand my object, and evidently 

 think it some nonsensical fancy. But I get my reward in 

 the proportion of cases I have mentioned. I have already 

 become familiar with the quick look of intelligence on 

 these occasions, and with the reply in words denoting 

 that the right chord had been struck. Then the details 

 are poured forth. I am frequently told how the habit 

 used to be mentioned to relatives, but was ridiculed, and 

 had ceased to be spoken about ; or again, how some par- 

 ticular brother or sister had the same habit, but that one 

 only, and so forth. The more I follow up the inquiries, 

 the more the accuracy of the first replies becomes evident ; 

 thus, I ask for fresh sketches, and they correspond to the 

 first. The general result is, that these statements bear 

 all the marks one could expect of being the reports of 

 what is clearly seen and what the writer is anxious to 

 describe exactly. Among my foreign correspondents 

 whose names are well known to the scientific world, and 

 whom I am permitted to quote, are M. Antoine d'Abbadie, 

 the traveller, and Member of the Institute, and Baron von 

 Osten Sacken, the Russian entomologist. 



Now for the results. These forms (as distinguished 

 from the figures now seen upon them) are survivals of a 

 very early mental stage, and must have originated before 

 the child learnt his letters. There is no nursery book or 

 diagram that could suggest their Fantastic shapes. Then- 

 very variety shows them to be derived from no common 

 origin. They frequently turn with a left-handed twist, 

 which written and printed things do not. They are more 

 archaic than the alphabetical and historical forms used 

 by the same persons, for these bear evident marks of 

 their origin. The clock face has little or nothing to do 

 with them, for its influence can only be traced in three 

 cases. I believe the forms to have been mnemonic dia- 

 grams, invented by the children when they were learning 

 to count verbally, the sounds of the successive numerals 

 being associated with the successive points of the form. 

 Also, that when the children began to read, the visual 

 symbols of the numerals quickly supplanted the verbal 

 ones, and established themselves permanently in their 

 place. On this supposition we possess in these numerical 

 forms a representation of the route along which the atten- 

 tion naturally travels in the mental field of view of the 

 child. It is entirely the child's own way of working, and 

 therefore true to his nature ; and being natural, it persists 

 through life and offers itself in the adult for our 

 examination. 



The characteristic run of the lines in each form has 



some general similarity to that of the correspondent's 

 hand-writing, but it must testify more directly to his 

 mental peculiarities than the latter. The form shows the 

 ways that the mind most likes to travel by, but the hand- 

 writing is a compromise between what the writer desires 

 to produce under the joint guidance of a natural fancy, of 

 education and of fashion, with what the muscles of the 

 hand can most easily effect. These forms or natural lines 

 of thought are, I presume, analogous to those that in- 

 stinctively prompt each species of animal to make his lair, 

 burrow, nest, or other piece of domestic architecture, on an 

 identical plan, with trifling individual variations, and th it 

 prompts gregarious animals to group themselves always 

 in the same sort of array. In these numerical forms we 

 find real " psychograms." 



One of the most obvious facts common to them is the 

 curious proof they afford of the perplexity caused by our 

 barbarous nomenclature of the numerals. We say " ten," 

 "eleven," "fifteen," &c, when we see "one-nought," 

 "one-one," "one-five," &c, and other civilised nations 

 are as bad or worse than ourselves, as the French with 

 their "soixante quinze." The way in which the perplexity 

 is shown is by the wriggles and twists in the forms at 10 

 and 12 and by the exceptional length of the 'teens. It is 

 not easy to describe in a few words what is so variously 

 pourtrayed, but the general effect on looking at my col- 

 lection is most striking. It is really painful to think of 

 the vast amount of petty difficulty to the existence of 

 which this indisputable testimony is given. The difficulty 

 does not cease with childhood, else the twists would have 

 been smoothed away, and I am sure from tri lis on myself 

 that I for my part still feel it much. I can dictate more 

 easily by saying on-one, on-two, &c, and I can write and 

 sum from dictation much more quickly when some such 

 plan is used. It should be adopted by those who want to 

 remove as much friction as possible from their brain- 

 work. I have little doubt that the conflict between our 

 language and our notation is a serious though unsuspected 

 hindrance to the ready establishment of decimal weights 

 and measures. 



I find from inquiries made for me at schools that young 

 people see forms more commonly than adults, but that 

 their forms are less developed and sure. I conclude that 

 where thev are vivid and serviceable they are much used, 

 and insensibly grow in vividness, in definition, and in 

 automatic character. Otherwise they decay from disuse 

 and become forgotten. Hence arises the rather sharp 

 division between the seers and non-scers in adult life. 



I am still desirous of more information on this subject, 

 especially concerning children, and on colour associations 

 with figures, letters, and words. 



42, Rutland Gate, London FRANCIS Galton 



THE TELEPHONIC EXCHANGE IN THE 

 UNITED STATES 



THE telephone has already become firmly established 

 in America as a medium of daily communication. 

 Eighty-five towns are thus connected, and to the various 

 telephonic companies there are 70,000 subscribers, and 

 the number is rapidly increasing. For some details as to 

 the working of this method of intercommunication we are 

 indebted to our French contemporary La Nature. If 

 we enter the great hall of the central office of the 

 Merchants' Telephone Exchange at 19S, Broadway, 

 New York (Fig. 1), we see a scries of "Switchmen" 

 engaged in establishing communications among the 

 subscribers. There is a switchman corresponding with 

 one of the subscribers who has called (Fig. 2) ; further on 

 is another employe engaged in raising the notice signal. 

 In the city, in the subscriber's house or office, is the office 

 telephone, which is set up in a great number of houses; 

 this model is very convenient for business, for it permits 

 of spaaking into the mouth-piece placed on the left, of 



