or right of the ship, and whether
it was above or below the line of the horizon; they could always
point to a definite spot in space, and say with more or less
precision that that was the direction in which the image of the
figure they were thinking of, first appeared.

Now the strange psychological fact to which I desire to draw
attention, is that among persons who visualise figures clearly there
are many who notice that the image of the same figure invariably
makes its first appearance in the same direction, and at the same
distance. Such a person would always see the figure when it first
appeared to him at (we may suppose) one point of the compass to the
left of the line between his eye and the ship, at the level of the
horizon, and at twenty feet distance. Again, we may suppose that he
would see the figure 7 invariably half a point to the left of the
ship, at an altitude equal to the sun's diameter above the horizon,
and at thirty feet distance; similarly for all the other figures.
Consequently, when he thinks of the series of numerals 1, 2, 3, 4,
etc., they show themselves in a definite pattern that always
occupies an identical position in his field of view with respect to
the direction in which he is looking.

Those who do not see figures with the same objectivity, use
nevertheless the same expressions with reference to their mental
field of view. They can draw what they see in a manner fairly
satisfactory to themselves, but they do not locate it so strictly in
reference to their axis of sight and to the horizontal plane that
passes through it. It is with them as in dreams, the imagery is
before and around, but the eyes during sleep are turned inwards and
upwards.

The pattern or "Form" in which the numerals are seen is by no means
the same in different persons, but assumes the most grotesque
variety of shapes, which run in all sorts of angles, bends, curves,
and zigzags as represented in the various illustrations to this
chapter. The drawings, however, fail in giving the idea of their
apparent size to those who see them; they usually occupy a wider
range than the mental eye can take in at a single glance, and compel
it to wander. Sometimes they are nearly panoramic.

These Forms have for the most part certain characteristics in common.
They are stated in all cases to have been in existence, so far as
the earlier numbers in the Form are concerned, as long back as the
memory extends; they come into view quite