102 galton.org
102
Inquiries into Human Faculty
had passed out of mind, but the imagery remained the same, with some
trifling and very interesting metamorphoses of details.
DESCRIPTION OF PLATE IV.
I can find room in Plate IV. for only two instances of coloured
Number-Forms, though others are described in Plate III. Fig. 64 is by
Miss Rose G. Kingsley, daughter of the late eminent writer the Rev.
Charles Kingsley, and herself an authoress. She says
“Up to 30 I see the numbers in clear white; to 40 in gray; 40-50 in flaming orange; 50-
60 in green; 60—70 in dark blue; 70 1 am not sure about; 80 is reddish, I think; and 90 is
yellow; but these latter divisions are very indistinct in my mind’s eye.”
She subsequently writes
“I now enclose my diagram; it is very roughly done, I am afraid, not nearly as well as I
should have liked to have done it. My great fear has been that in thinking it over I might be
led to write down something more than what I actually see, but I hope I have avoided
this.”
Fig. 65 is an attempt at reproducing the form sent by Mr. George F.
Smythe of Ohio, an American correspondent who has contributed much of
interest. He says
“To me the numbers from 1 to 20 lie on a level plane, but from 20 they slope up to 100
at an angle of about 25°. Beyond 100 they are generally all on a level, but if for any reason
I have to think of the numbers from 100 to 200, or from 200 to 300, etc., then the numbers,
between these two hundreds, are arranged just as those from 1 to 100 are. I do not, when
thinking of a number, picture to myself the figures which represent it, but I do think
instantly of the place which it occupies along the line. Moreover, in the case of numbers
from I to 20 (and, indistinctly, from 20 up to 28 or 30), I always picture the number—not
the figures—as occupying a right-angled parallelogram about twice as long as it is broad.
These numbers all lie down flat and extend in a straight line from 1 to 12 over an
unpleasant, arid, sandy plain. At 1 2 the line turns abruptly to the right, passes into a
pleasanter region where grass grows, and so continues up to 20. At 20 the line turns to the
left, and passes up the before-described incline to 100. This figure will help you in
understanding my ridiculous notions. The asterisk (*) marks the
