690 The American Naturalist. [Augest, 
Flournoy distinguishes here between photisms, diagrams and person- 
ification. The first of these is the audition colorée of earlier writers; 
it consists in the natural association of a color with each particular 
sound, so that a spoken word appears to the hearer to be tinged with 
one or more hues, corresponding to its constituent vowel sounds. <A 
diagram is a visual scheme in which some natural series of ideas (such 
as the months, days of the week, numbers, etc), is arranged. When a 
member of the series is recalled, the appropriate part of the diagram is 
visualized. Personification is simply the attributing of some personal 
characteristic, such as sex, to a number, etec. ; or the association with 
it of a feeling of like or dislike. Flournoy reportssome 350 persons as 
possessing synopsia in one or other of its forms, out of 2600 to whom 
questions were addressed, (13 per cent.) ; but as a large portion of his 
question-sheets were never returned, the real percentage may be regarded 
as somewhat greater. 
In a recent paper,’ Miss Calkins gives the results of a personal can- 
vass of Wellesley students in 1893 and 1894. For the former year the 
affirmative answers numbered 33 per cent., for the latter 60 per cent. 
It may be doubted whether all the latter are true cases of synopsia. 
Yet when due allowance is made for possible temporary associations, it 
must still be admitted that synopsia is by no means a rare phenomenon. 
Richard Hennig’ gives an interesting study of the diagram-forms 
occurring in himself and his immediate family. He is able in a num- 
ber of cases to trace their origin to certain associations of early child- 
hood, and favors the ‘ natural,’ or experiential view of the origin of all 
such schemes. He strongly opposes the notion of inherited forms or 
photisms: Only two pair in the list given by Galton, he thinks, show 
any real resemblance, and these may well be accounted for by similarity 
of early environment. “ Only the tendency to synopsia can be inherited ; 
but here the influence of heredity is unmistakable and undoubted.” 
The writer points out a similarity between the number-form of himself 
and one brother brought up under the same surroundings, while in the 
case of another brother, whose early life was spent in another environ- 
ment, the diagram was radically different. Herr Hennig urges the 
usefulness of the number-form as a mnemonic aid, and cites the case of 
a friend, who easily memorized dates by association with the appropri- 
ate places in his number-diagram. 
J. Philippe has lately investigated the synopsia of blind persons, and 
finds a remarkable number of cases among them, though none occurred 
among those who were blind from birth. 
2 Synæsthesia, by Mary W. Calkins; Amer. Journalof Psychology, VII, 90-107, 
3 Ztschr. f, Psychol., X, 183-222, 
