Inquiries into human faculty and its developmentGalton, Francis
Science
Inquiries into human faculty and its development
Galton, Francis
Ability; Eugenics
When the limits of audibility are approached, the sound becomes much
fainter, and when that limit is reached, the sound usually gives
place to a peculiar sensation, which is not sound but more like
dizziness, and which some persons experience to a high degree. Young
people hear shriller sounds than older people, and I am told there
is a proverb in Dorsetshire, that no agricultural labourer who is
more than forty years old, can hear a bat squeak. The power of
hearing shrill notes has nothing to do with sharpness of hearing,
any more than a wide range of the key-board of a piano has to do
with the sound of the individual strings. We all have our limits,
and that limit may be quickly found by these whistles in every case.
The facility of hearing shrill sounds depends in some degree on the
position of the whistle, for it is highest when it is held exactly
opposite the opening of the ear. Any roughness of the lining of the
auditory canal appears to have a marked effect in checking the
transmission of rapid vibrations when they strike the ear obliquely.
I myself feel this in a marked degree, and I have long noted the
fact in respect to the buzz of a mosquito. I do not hear the
mosquito much as it flies about, but when it passes close by my ear
I hear a "ping," the suddenness of which is very striking. Mr. Dalby,
the aurist, to whom I gave one of these instruments, tells me he
uses it for diagnoses. When the power of hearing high notes is
wholly lost, the loss is commonly owing to failure in the nerves,
but when very deaf people are still able to hear high notes if they
are sounded with force, the nerves are usually all right, and the
fault lies in the lining of the auditory canal.
E.--QUESTIONS ON VISUALISING AND OTHER ALLIED FACULTIES.
The Questions that I circulated were as follows; there was an
earlier and uncomplete form, which I need not reproduce here.
The object of these Questions is to elicit the degree in which
different persons possess the power of seeing images in their mind's
eye, and of reviving past sensations.
From inquiries I have already made, it appears that remarkable
variations exist both in the strength and in the quality of these
faculties, and it is highly probable that a statistical inquiry into
them will throw light upon more than one psychological problem.
Before addressing yourself to any of the Questions on the opposite
page, think of some definite object--suppose it is your
breakfast-table as you sat down to it this morning--and consider
carefully the picture that rises before your mind's eye.
1. _Illumination_.--Is the image dim or fairly clear? Is its
brightness comparable to that of the actual scene?
2. _Definition_.--Are all the objects pretty well defined at the
same time, or is the place of sharpest definition at any one moment
more contracted than it is in a real scene?
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