was carried on (1879) for six
weeks, almost continuously, and "off and on for many subsequent months."
He found that with practice he could nearly always trace the
"straightforward causation" of a given action, which at first seemed to
have been performed "through a creative act, or by inspiration."

Then there was his attempt to experience the feelings of the insane.
"The method tried was to invest everything I met, whether human, animal,
or inanimate, with the imaginary attributes of a spy." The trial was
only too successful; by the time he had walked 1.5 miles to the cab-stand
at the east end of the Green Park "every horse in the stand seemed
watching" him, "either with pricked ears, or disguising its espionage."
He adds that hours passed before this uncanny sensation wore off. On
another occasion he managed to create in his mind the feelings of a
savage for his idol, the idol in his own case being a picture of Mr.
Punch.

These experiments seem to me very characteristic of the man in their
originality, their humour, and their unexpected measure of success, for
personally, I should have prophesied failure in all. They have a special
bearing on Galton's belief that a quasi-religious enthusiasm for eugenics
may be built up. I have sometimes wondered that he should believe this
great change so feasible, but I understand how he came to think so when I
read of his strange power of impressing beliefs on himself, with such
force as to leave a trail of discomfort in the mind after the
make-believe had ceased.

These and similar trials were, I think, made in relation to his desire to
weigh and measure human faculty in a broad sense. I remember his telling
me of his experiments on the mind of the British cabman. His method was
to use alternately two different forms of the address to which he wished
to go. Thus on Monday he would tell the man to drive him home to 42,
Rutland Gate, on Tuesday he would say, "Rutland Gate, 42," and so on. My
recollection is that the cabmen understood more quickly the familiar
formula in which the number precedes the name of the street.

There was also a characteristic experiment or inquiry into the intensity
of boredom in a lecture audience, by counting the number of fidgets per
man per minute. In this case to avoid the open use of a watch, he
estimated time by the number of his own breaths, "of which there are
fifteen in a minute." I hope my brother {21} will forgive my adding that