galton.org 93
Number-Forms
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Figs 9—19 and Fig. 28 are from returns communicated by Mr. W. H.
Poole, science-master of Charterhouse College, which are very valuable to
me as regards visualising power generally. He read my questions before a
meeting of about 60 boys, who all consented to reply, and he had several
subsequent volunteers. All the answers were short, straightforward, and
often amusing. Subsequently the inquiry extended, and I have 168 returns
from him in all, containing 12 good Number-Forms, shown in Figs. 9—
19, and in Fig. 28. The first Fig. is that of Mr. Poole himself; he says,
“The line only represents position; it does not exist in my mind. After 100,
I return to my old starting-place, e.g. 140 occupies the same position as
40.”
The gross statistical result from the schoolboys is as follows :—Total
returns, 337 viz. Winchester 135, Princeton 34, Charterhouse 168; the
number of these that contained well-defined Number-Forms are 5, 1, and
12 respectively, or total 18—that is, one in twenty. It may justly be said
that the masters should not be counted, because it was owing to the
accident of their seeing the Number-Forms themselves that they became
interested in the inquiry; if this objection be allowed, the proportion
would become 16 in 337, or one in twenty-one. Again, some boys who
had no visualising faculty at all could make no sense out of the questions,
and wholly refrained from answering; this would again diminish the
proportion. The shyness in some would help in a statistical return to
neutralise the tendency to exaggeration in others, but I do not think there
is much room for correction on either head. Neither do I think it requisite
to make much allowance for inaccurate answers, as the tone of the replies
is simple and straightforward. Those from Princeton, where the students
are older and had been specially warned, are remarkable for indications of
self-restraint. The result of personal inquiries among adults, quite
independent of and prior to these, gave me the proportion of 1 in 30 as a
provisional result for adults. This is as well confirmed by the present
returns of 1 in 21 among boys and youths as I could have expected.
I have not a sufficient number of returns from girls for useful
comparison with the above, though I am much
