March 26, 1886.] 



SCIEXCE. 



289 



a negative cause, since,, if the critical impulse 

 were really strong, the inference would be chal- 

 lenged at least, even if it could not be corrected. 

 In judgments, however, as to character-tests, it 

 would be necessary to estimate this negative 

 cause as otherwise indicated, and allow for it be- 

 fore deciding on the degree of the critical defect. 



2°. In the second place, differences were ob- 

 served in the degree of orderliness with which 

 perceptions are marshalled, and in the general 

 notion of order which characterizes any particu- 

 lar observer. 



Out of twenty observers, eight gave evidence 

 of no noticeable interest in order at all : the ob- 

 jects appeared to have been observed haphazard, 

 as far as then relation to one another logically, or 

 in place, went. On the other hand, seven descrip- 

 tions were as orderly as they could well be ex- 

 pected to be ; while to three, half marks were 

 given, and to one two-fifths. In most of the or- 

 derly descriptions the order chosen was that of 

 place, — the order of the inventory round the 

 room, some starting from the door, some from 

 the opposite point, and some from the clock in the 

 middle. In one or two the order was logical : 

 i.e. . the order of what may be called the idea of 

 the room, as in one paper which begins, " The 

 first thing that strikes you are the rows of desks 

 and girls." In another set of papers, describing 

 a more ornamental kind of a room, signs were 

 found of a third kind of order, sometimes very 

 strong, — the order, namely, of aesthetic effects ; 

 the order in space, and in idea too, being subor- 

 dinated to the order in feeling for the beautiful. 



3°. Great differences in color-interest were also 

 observable, since some took pains to describe colors 

 fully, while others took no notice of color at all, 

 or very little. In the same way, any marked in- 

 terest in form v as also shown ; though in the ex- 

 periments under consideration no call was made 

 upon the form-interest so strong as to test defect 

 by the absence of response. 



4°. One other characteristic, and a most im- 

 portant one, came out into strong relief in a few 

 cases. This is the tendency to substitute feeling 

 for thinking, to apprehend impressions as the 

 minimum of idea with the maximum of emotion, 

 which may be called, for simplicity, over-emotion- 

 alism. An over-emotional person perceives ob- 

 jects habitually as sources of feeling ; and that is, 

 of course, equivalent to not properly perceiving 

 them at all. Now when, in the description of a 

 room, a child tells you that it is very beautiful, and 

 there are lovely curtains, and the sweetest flowers, 

 and pretty ornaments, it may be considered an 

 evident mark of xDver-eruotionalism. and should, 

 in the educational interest, recommend a whole- 



some diet of ideas accordingly. The negative de- 

 fect — for, after all, it is a defect — of under- 

 emotionalism is, like all negative defects, difficult 

 to test : but the freedom from defect reveals itself 

 every now and then in little touches that are very 

 subtle. 



In other observations made, a picture was used 

 as a test. The same contrasts as before were to 

 some extent brought out in the various descrip- 

 tions of the picture ; but there was occasion for 

 another set of contrasts in these cases, and these 

 contrasts came out decidedly. To see a picture in 

 the full sense is to understand its meaning, and in 

 the interpretation of meaning there is abundant 

 scope for the most varied play of imagination, 

 whether checked by faithful observation or not. 

 Just as the perception of an object resolves itself 

 into the two factors of impression and apprehen- 

 sion, so the observation of a complex of objects 

 resolves itself into the two factors of perception 

 and explanation by means of appropriate fetches 

 of the constructive imagination. Now. in some 

 children there was found abundant and accurate 

 perceptive detail, with something like the min- 

 imum of constructive explanation. In others the 

 opposite extreme was manifest, explanation good, 

 and details little dwelt upon or even described 

 with imperfect accuracy. Between these ex- 

 tremes the two factors were combined in various 

 ratios, including the ratio of equality character- 

 istic of the well-balanced type of mind. 



Again, varieties in the nature of the imagina- 

 tive play, which suggested well-marked contrasts 

 of general character, were observed. Sometimes 

 the play of imagination was almost purely intel- 

 lectual, strictly subordinated to the purpose of 

 fetching ideas for the explanation of observations. 

 This may be called the logical or intellectual 

 imagination. In other cases the fetch of imagi- 

 nation was not so much after ideas to construe 

 with, as after feelings to luxuriate in : the ideas 

 are overpowered in a mass of vague associated 

 emotion. This, if it can be called imagination at 

 all, may be marked out as the emotional variety ; 

 and a touch of it is not. of course, out of place 

 in describing an object like a picture, which has 

 distinct aesthetic bearings. But most striking of 

 all were the examples of dramatic imagination, 

 winch were not rare : here the picture is lost in 

 the story which it is interpreted as meant to 

 tell ; the picture becomes the occasion for a de- 

 parture into story-land, instead of remaining, 

 as in the first case, the main fact, solely for the 

 explanation of which such departures are at all 

 allowed, and by which they are limited. Besides 

 these marked cases, there were doubtful cases, 

 and cases negative altogether. Sometimes, too, 



