galton.org 69
Mental Imagery
69
recalling scenes, not from the point of view whence they were observed,
but from a distance, and they visualise their own selves as actors on the
mental stage. By one or other of these ways, the power of seeing the
whole of an object, and not merely one aspect of it, is possessed by many
persons.
The place where the image appears to lie, differs much. Most persons
see it in an indefinable sort of way, others see it in front of the eye, others
at a distance corresponding to reality. There exists a power which is rare
naturally, but can, I believe, be acquired without much difficulty, of
projecting a mental picture upon a piece of paper, and of 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 vigorous, 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 visualising is higher in the female sex than in the male,
and is somewhat, but not much, higher in public schoolboys 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 accompanied 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 visualising faculty is a natural gift, and, like all natural gifts, has a
tendency to be inherited. In this faculty the tendency to inheritance is
exceptionally strong, as I have abundant evidence to prove, especially in
respect to certain rather rare peculiarities, of which I shall speak in the
next
