The conditions under which this series of experiments was conducted were
excellent, and will be given partly in Mr. Sinclair’s words and partly,
for greater conciseness, abridged from his statement, aided by an
examination of the materials.
(a) The original drawings were made by Mr. Sinclair when he was alone in
his study. (b) They were made on green paper. (c) Each drawing was
enclosed “in a separate sheet of green paper.” (d) Each drawing with its
enclosing sheet was folded once, making four thicknesses. (e) And each
pair of sheets, that with the drawing and the blank outside one, was put
in an envelope [Experiment shows that not even when held up to a strong
light can a drawing made and enclosed in such paper and placed in an
envelope be seen at all]. (f) The envelope was sealed. (g) The nine
sealed envelopes were laid on the table by Mrs. Sinclair’s couch. (h)
Her procedure was to put an envelope, and each in turn as the tests
proceeded, over her solar plexus, and when she had made her decision, to
sit up and draw upon a paper pad. (i) Meanwhile, at her own insistence,
Mr. Sinclair watched her throughout. (j) “Never did she see my drawing,”
he declares, “until hers was completed and her descriptive words
written.” (k) “I spoke no word and made no comment until after this was
done.” He adds: “The drawings represented here are in every case exactly
what I drew, and the corresponding drawing is exactly what my wife drew,
with no change or addition whatsoever.”
1. _Agt._, a geographical globe; _Per._, an obscure drawing most
probably representing the head and neck of some animal. Failure.[17]
2. _Agt._, a wall-hook (Fig. 123); _Per._, the drawing of Figure 123a,
which resembles the original to a certain limited degree, having a
narrow extension to the left though not curving, and broadening to the
right with a suggestion of curving at the bottom.
3. _Agt._, a monkey hanging from a bough and grasping at another (Fig.
24); _Per._ drew as in Figures 24a, 24b (except that in the former the
cut fails to give all of the pencil drawing. Instead of four curving
lines hanging from the flower or whatever it is, the ends of each pair
should be united by a curve) and it seems as though elements of the
original were caught but misplaced. Each figure is of the shape of the
under branch in the original drawing, but with the slant of the monkey;
there are two as-it-were arms reaching down instead of one; and while
the drawings do not suggest any animal, the script begins “Buffalo or
lion. Tiger,” and concludes with the conviction that there is at least
some “wild animal.”
4. _Agt._, man and woman standing together; _Per._, two drawings, one
almost exactly the shape of the woman’s skirt, with two black spots
below and touching its bottom line, exactly as the feet of the woman
appear below her skirt; the other drawing similar but less like the
original.
5. _Agt._, an animal shape, probably intended for a goat (certain
species, as the Angora, have long horns which resemble those of the
drawing, and goats generally have a short tail) (Fig. 138); _Per._, no
drawing, but the single word “Goat.”
6. _Agt._, a mandolin, its neck drawn with several parallel lines, the
body of the instrument composed of four curving lines with three
straight ones for the strings; _Per._, what may perhaps be intended for
a flower, but its long stem indicated by several parallel lines and its
blossom drawn with curving and straight lines constitute a strong
resemblance, and entitle it to be regarded a partial success.
7. _Agt._, a nearly round bag with a dollar mark on it, pursed and drawn
up on top, as by a string; _Per._, (1) a circle with a vertical line
protruding from its upper edge, (2) a cup-like figure with a line from
its bottom to above its upper edge.
8. _Agt._, a Lima bean (?); _Per._, a head wearing a turban, which in
shape is conspicuously like the bean.
9. _Agt._, a nest containing seven eggs and surrounded by leaves (Fig.
4); _Per._, a drawing which she interpreted as “Inside of rock well with
vines climbing on outside,” but which presents features startlingly like
the original (Fig. 4a).
There is the outer rim, like that of the nest, and which would probably
have completed the circle if the top of the paper had not been reached.
There are the “stones,” for some unknown reason obscured in the cut but
some of them in the center showing more plainly and more regularly ovoid
in the pencil drawing, resembling the eggs of the original. And there
are not only surrounding leaves as in the original, but they are leaves
of similar shape.