MENTAL TRANSPARENCY

In 1883, Francis Galton had this to say about transparency:

“Some persons have the habit of viewing objects as though they were partly transparent; thus, if they so dispose a globe in their imagination as to see both its north and south poles at the same time, they will not be able to see its equatorial parts.” Galton. p68

Living in the Victorian era, Galton was a polymath. Some of the ways he applied his time was as an anthropologist, geographer, inventor, psychologist, psychometrician, etc. He also conducted early investigations into the science of visualization and of visual imagery.

He worked to quantify the completeness of mental visual imagery, using eminent scientists as test subjects. His method used a literary survey, and respondents answered a series of questions regarding what, exactly, they see in their mind. He then categorized these results into what he termed a high, mediocre, and low visualizing faculty.

He also worked to apply a scientific overlay onto the drawing faculties of what he termed the uncivilized peoples of the world. And he gives special attention to the Eskimo’s visualization abilities:

“Other living races have the gift of drawing, but none more so than the Eskimo. The Eskimos are geographers by instinct, and appear to see vast tracts of country mapped out in their heads.” Galton. p72.

He goes on to cite one Eskimo, which he termed barbarian, uncouth, uneducated, and savage. Nevertheless, Galton states that this man drew from memory a chart of the region in which he lived and fished in his canoe. And when the Eskimo’s drawing was compared to an Admiralty chart of 1870, “their accordance is remarkable.”

Galton’s book is retrievable from the link below. And it is fun to read, as his interest is incredibly wide ranging: he speaks of Number Forms, Color Associations, Visionaries…the list goes on.

“A visual image is the most perform of mental representation wherever the shape, position, and relations of objects in space are concerned. It is of importance in every handicraft and profession where design is required. The best workmen are those who visualize the whole of what they propose to do, before they take a tool in their hands.” Galton p. 78.

Galton was certainly an early transparent thinker. And he would have been included in the book, had I known about his work. These pages will continue to add to our list of brilliant minds who foretold Transparent Drawing.

1. Galton, Francis. Inquiries Into Human Faculty and its Development. Originally published 1883. Retrieved from http://galton.org/books/human-faculty/text/human-faculty.pdf