IMAGINATION. 55 



holding it fast there, so that it can be outlined with a pencil. To this 

 I shall recur. 



" Images usually do not become stronger by dwelling on them; the 

 first idea is commonly the most vigoi'ous, but this is not always the case. 

 Sometimes the mental view of a locality is inseparably connected with 

 the sense of its position as regards the points of the compass, real or 

 imaginary. I have received full and curious descriptions from very 

 different sources of this strong geographical tendency, and in one or 

 two cases I have reason to think it allied to a considerable faculty of 

 geographical comprehension. 



" The power of visualizing is higher in the female sex than in the male, 

 and is somewhat, but not much, higher in public-school boys than in 

 men. After maturity is reached, the further advance of age does not 

 seem to dim the faculty, but rather the reverse, judging from numerous 

 statements to that effect; but advancing years are sometimes accom- 

 panied by a growing habit of hard abstract thinking, and in these cases 

 — not uncommon among those whom I have questioned — the faculty 

 undoubtedly becomes impaired. There is reason to believe that it is very 

 high in some young children, who seem to spend years of difficulty in 

 distinguishing between the subjective and objective world. Language 

 and book-learning certainly tend to dull it. 



"The visualizing faculty is a natural gift, and, like all natural gifts, 

 has a tendency to be inherited. In this faculty the tendency to inheri- 

 tance is exceptionally strong, as I have abundant evidence to prove, 

 especially in i-espect to certain rather rare peculiarities, , . . which, 

 when they exist at all, are usually found among two, three, or more 

 brothers and sisters, parents, children, uncles and aunts, and cousins. 



" Since families differ so much in respect to this gift, we may suppose 

 that races would also differ, and there can be no doubt that such is the 

 case. I hardly like to refer to civilized nations, because their natural 

 faculties are too much modified by education to allow of their being 

 appraised in an off-hand fashion. I may, however, speak of the French, 

 who appear to possess the visualizing faculty in a high degree. The 

 peculiar ability they show in prearranging ceremonials and fetes of all 

 kinds, and their undoubted genius for tactics and strategy, show that 

 they are able to foresee effects with unusual clearness. Their ingenuity 

 in all technical contrivances is an additional testimony in the same direc- 

 tion, and so is their singular clearness of expression. Their phrase 

 ' figurez-vous,' or ' picture to yourself,' seems to express their dominant 

 mode of perception. Our equivalent of ' imagine ' is ambiguous. 



"I have many cases of persons mentally reading off scores when 

 playing the pianoforte, or manuscript when they are making speeches. 

 One statesman has assured me that a certain hesitation in utterance 

 which he has at times is due to his being plagued by the image of his 



