October 27, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



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school," "The ordinary book form," "Food for the mind," 

 "General idea of a book," "The thoughts of some person," 

 "Picture of a book closed," "An object which contains 



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printed matter," "Indefinite, stiff cover, open," "A 12mo. 

 bound in cloth, black in color," "Indistinct form of a 

 book," "Hawthorne's House of Seven Gables," "A small 

 black book." 



The word drum called forth remarkably few auditory 

 images. The Salvation Army drum which had been car- 

 ried through the streets every evening for some time was 

 most commonly thought of, the image usually being vis- 

 ual. Drums in certain bands were next most common. 

 School Children. — "Circus parade," "Large base drum with 

 sticks on it," "Small, with a very pretty girl playing," 

 "Small drum with silver bands," "An army," "Ear drum," 

 "A little drummer boy in a crowd and fifers." College Stu- 

 dents. — "A large noisy instrument with a man or boy at- 

 tachment," "My little brother using his drum," "Picture 

 in mind of a drum, size medium, red trimmings, stretched 

 skin across the toiJ, cord on the sides" (evidently this 

 image became distinct as the writer wrote the descrip- 

 tion), "My little cousin and his drum, auditory as well as 

 visual," "A big base drum with a man pounding on it," 

 "A band walking the street," "Drum of my native city 

 with name of town in black letters," "An old drum I 

 had in my childhood," "Noise and Fourth of July proces- 

 sion," "Form [?] and their sound," "Image of a child's 

 drum with red ornaments." 



The word tree called forth images of nearly every kind 

 of tree growing in that region and some that do not. The 

 maple was most frequently mentioned by the school chil- 

 dren, probably because they were specially interested in 

 it at that time of year. The particular trees were usually 

 of the school grounds, the college campus, or the yard at 

 home. Although the trees were bare at that time, many 

 of the images were of trees in full leaf. 



School Children. — "Majsle tree taj)ped, with a sap can," 

 "The cherry tree that George "Washington cut down," 

 "Tree of life," "A maj^le tree tall and straight, but leaves 

 withered," "I fancy I am sitting under it in summer time 

 eating apples," "A tall ti-ee with spreading branches," 

 "An ajjple tree in blossom," "A tree without leaves, 

 maple, I think," "Big trees in California." College Stu- 

 dents — "A representation of vegetable life, something 

 growing," "Green leaves and shade," "That of a dream I 

 had last night," "A particular tree which, when I began 

 drawing lessons, J pictured," "Hear the rustle of the 

 leaves moved by the wind," "Mass of foliage," "A sym- 

 metrical body," "Leafless trees, bare branches," "A large 

 stately oak." 



The word horse called up images of horses of all sizes, 

 ages and colors, the p>articular horse thought of usually 

 being that belonging to the family. 



School Children. — "Axtell" (the noted Iowa trotter), "A 

 bay horse attached to a red-wheeled buggy," "A horse 

 with wings," "Geo. H. trying to hold a runaway horse," 

 "Maud S," "Black horse in a red barn," "A black horse 

 going at full speed," "The horse I draw pictures of," 

 "Team I saw this morning." College Students. — "A black 

 horse in a pasture," "Picture of a horse with a fine-shaped 

 head and curly mane," "One which I saw loose on the 

 street yesterday," "A horse travelling very fast," "Visual 

 image of the word horse" "A large bay horse; I used to 

 work with such a one," "A span of gray horses, not par- 

 ticular," "Pony with a saddle," "A vague image of a 

 horse trotting down the road," "Horses struggling with a 

 heavy load." 



The answers given above are typical of the kind of 

 answers given for the other words. 



The question of what determines what one of the many 

 possible mental images shall be called up at any particu- 

 lar time by a word is a very interesting one. One would 

 naturally think, as Spencer suggests, that the image of 

 the object most often seen would be the one called up 

 aud used to represent the class. In many cases this is 

 true. The particular images, however, are often of ob- 

 jects recently seen. Again, the effect of early associa- 

 tion is prominent, e. g., a college senior thought of the 



