A case of synaesthesia / by Charles S. Myers.

  • Myers, Charles S. (Charles Samuel), 1873-1946.
Date:
[1911?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A case of synaesthesia / by Charles S. Myers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    A CASE OF SYN AESTH ESI A. By CHARLES S. MYERS. 1. Introductory. 2. Colours ascribed by A to tones of different pitch, sounded singly or together. 3. Conditions of A’s synaesthesia. 4. Influence of timbre, loudness, and contrast of pitch upon colours. 5. .4’s absence of imagery. 6. Unusual features in present case. 7. The factor of ‘sympathy.’ 8. The factor of individual experience. 9. The determinants of synaesthesia generally. 1. The subject of this note, whom for convenience we shall call A, is about 30 years of age. It was quite by accident that I was led to investigate his condition of synaesthesia. He happened to be one of a number of persons who were the subjects of some experiments which I was conducting upon the aesthetics of music. One part of this in¬ vestigation consisted in sounding certain single tones and chords by means of tuning forks (struck with uniform loudness by an arrangement which it is unnecessary to describe here). The subject was asked what came into his mind while he was listening to individual single tones or chords; he had to describe his attitude towards it, to state if it gave him pleasure or displeasure, and, if so, to explain why. 2. The following are specimens of -A’s answers when single tones were sounded. The figures indicate the number of vibrations per second; the letters in brackets give the approximate musical notes. 800 (a fr). Gives me the idea of a bell. It is of a light-blue colour. I get the idea of a fairy, then of a fairy bell. I have no visual image. It is a pleasant sound.