A Rhythmic Approach To Mathematics by Edith L Somervell

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MTOATHEMATIC
LETTER
SCIENCE
9. ARTS
AGRICULTURE
KNOWLEDGE
LIBRARY of the
OHIO STATE
UNIVERSITY
1
Copyright in the United States
of America , 1906 ,
by F. H. Gilson & Co.
All Rights Reserved .
A RHYTHMIC APPROACH TO
MATHEMATICS
>
1
********
Boole Curve -Sewing Cards
Designed to accompany
A Rhythmic Approach to
Mathematics.
BY
EDITH L. SOMERVELL .
Consisting of seven packets of designs

( Series I. to VII . ), each containing 12
cards . Price 8d . net per packet.
Det ailed List of the Cards will be found
at end of book.
GEORGE PHILIP & SON , LTD .,
32 , FLEET STREET, LONDON.
LIVERPOOL : PHILIP , SON & NEPHEW , LTD .,
45-51 , South CASTLE STREET.
.
PLATE I.
A RHYTHMIC APPROACH
1
TO MATHEMATICS
Ву
EDITH L. SOMERVELL
With a Preface by
MARY EVEREST BOOLE
* *
*
LONDON
GEORGE PHILIP & SON, LTD ., 32, FLEET STREET

Liverpool : PHILIP, SON & NEPHEW, Ltd., 45-51 , South Castle Street
1906
( All Rights Reserved )

í
Dedicated
TO THOSE
WHO SHALL COME AFTER

IN MEMORY
OF THOSE
WHO HAVE GONE BEFORF .

PREFACE
I HAVE been asked to write a short sketch of the

origin and purpose of the method for evoking the
geometric instinct described in the following pages.
Somewhere about the year 1735, a boy named
Nicholas Antoine Boulanger left school in France
with the character of a hopeless dunce, who had never
been able to learn any algebra. Before he was forty
he was a mathematician of considerable attainments
and an engineer employed by the Government to
carry out important works ; and had become very
learned, for that day, in the history of ancient
religious customs . He left behind him some unpub
lished writings, in which he professed to have
recovered a very ancient secret method for setting
free brain-power and amassing knowledge . The
documents were published after his death , and for
a time attracted considerable notice. But the
French Revolution broke out and distracted public
attention from mental science . In England especi
ally people became afraid of French ideas. The
stream of thought set flowing by Boulanger and his
friends the Encyclopædists passed underground
for a time ; but it never for an hour ceased to flow
steadily on . In the early part of the nineteenth
century there was a working shoemaker named
John Boole, who kept a 7 French dictionary in the
8 PREFACE
drawer with his tools, so as to learn the vocabulary

while at work . His son George, who had to earn
his own living from the age of fifteen and a half, was ,
at seventeen, struck suddenly with the same idea
which had proved so useful to Boulanger. In the
course of аa few years he became, while still earning his
own living, a learned theologian and classic . Later
on he gained a European reputation by the originality
and power of his methods in mathematical research .
Several of his discoveries proved useful in them
selves for purposes connected with statistics, actu
arial work, electricity, etc. The brilliancy of the
results distracted attention from the method of
brain - fertilization which made the attaining of them
possible . It seemed hopeless to try to make the
method itself intelligible to adults whose minds were
already set in a mould inconsistent with the adop
tion of it . After his death I came to the conclusion
that it could be better made intelligible either to
children who had not yet formed any mental habits
or to adults whose stays of artificial habit had burst
in some direction owing to nervous disease. I set
to work to invent, as a recreation for nervous invalids ,
a mode of embroidering in coloured silks which
should of itself put the mind through the rhythmic
sequence suggested by Boulanger . It soon began
to be observed that the work of my pupils, though
faulty and deficient in technical skill, had some
of the characteristics which distinguish ancient
oriental art from all modern imitations, however
skilful .
Being now quite satisfied that I was on the right
track , I tried to get some children taught the princi
ples of freehand embroidery ; but the manipulation
of embroidery proved, in the case of little children, so
PREFACE 9
difficult as to be a
a serious obstacle . A better method
was ready to our hand for setting baby brains swing
ing in the rhythmic sequence .
Some half- century ago, a youth named Benjamin
Betts was employed in a London office in drawing
conventionalized patterns of leaves and flowers.
As he walked across the park after his work, the
plants themselves seemed , he says, to look up at
him and reproach him for maligning them . He
became disgusted with civilized life and its dis
honest conventions, and retired to a Brazilian forest
to study philosophy. He bethought him of a
system of geometric co -ordinates, founded on the
spiral of Archimedes, by which he tried to picture
to himself the course of thought checked by obsta
cles. Thirty years ago a mass of the diagrams
produced by Mr. Betts cameto England and fell into
my hands . Every one who has seen them perceives
that they contain some secret of vegetable mor
phology ; but Mr. Betts's system of co -ordinates is
complicated , and no one has hitherto been quite
able to follow the connexion in his mind between
physical and metaphysical pressure.
Eight years ago one of my daughters, who in
her childhood had drawn a few of the simpler
Betts curves , taught her own little children to orna
ment Christmas cards with curves produced by the
drawing of silk tangents ; each such card having
on it a single circlogram , parabola, or curve of pur
suit. It struck me that the curve of pursuit ' pro
vides the missing link which had so long been a
desideratum ; a means of introducing little children
to the conception of a connexion between organic
1 p. 32.
10 PREFACE
thought-sequence and the evolution of harmonious

form . The child draws straight lines which represent
to the mind the successive desires and thoughts of
animals ; which express his own understanding of
and sympathy with those desires and thoughts.
While he is doing this, a graceful curve, such as he
has perhaps never before seen or imagined, grows
up under his hands , as if by miracle ; he at first
hardly realizes how or why it came into being .
After a little practice of this kind, the connexion
between Laws of thought and Laws of form passes
out of the category of things which need to be
proved and becomes axiomatic ; he knows it, as he
knows that things which are equal to the same are
equal to each other.
For such a purpose the needle and thread has
many advantages over the implements in more
ordinary use for curve-drawing. Among them are
these :
It enables a child to get a perfectly uniform line
long before he would be able to keep a ruler straight
or a pencil sharp ; to make a thicker line at pleasure ;
and to keep the parts of a diagram separate by
varying the colour, without the risk of smudging
involved in the use of coloured inks or the clumsiness
of chalk points.
I gave two or three Christmas cards worked with
curves to Mr. Garstang, Mathematical Master at
Bedales School, Petersfield , who showed them to
Miss Borsche , a Froebel teacher under Mr. Scott,
Head Master of a Preparatory School connected
with Bedales, suggesting that she might try to
invent some method of combining curves . She
and her little class devoted only fifty minutes per
week during school hours to sewing curves on cards,
PREFACE 11
but some of the children practised of their own

accord at spare moments, and soon began making
combinations and suggestions of their own. The
experiment was carefully watched , to see whether
the children were growing excited, fatigued, or
unduly conscious of personal inspiration. But as
no symptoms of any such danger showed them
selves, the two Head Masters (of Bedales and the
Preparatory School) showed their wisdom by giving
Miss Borsche a free hand . Some of the work
produced was shown by Mr. Garstang in January,
1904, at the house of Dr. Arthur Somervell ;
and the connexion between harmonograph curves
and those produced by Miss Borsche's pupils was
pointed out. Mrs. Somervell then began experi
menting, with very interesting results . This sum
mer, I have had the great joy of seeing Mrs. Somer
vell and her children give lessons in the art of
Geometric Design to a few children attending the
Primary School at Overstrand ; and I have now
no hesitation in saying that the method carried out
by Miss Borsche and Mrs. Somervell, with which
they kindly wish to connect my name, is a working
possibility as a means of truly national evocation
of creative and organizing power.
One of the most pressing hygienic wants of the
present age is an inexpensive mode of artistic expres
sion , readily accessible, at any spare moment, to
women such as under-servants, general servants ,
factory hands, and shop assistants , whose daily
task it is to subordinate their own sense of what
is right or beautiful to the convenience or whims of
others. To express their own freaks of fancy freely
is with many of such women an overmastering need,
a raging thirst, which drives them into much extra
12 PREFACE
vagance ; and which, unsatisfied , drives not a

few into insanity or disease. More than once I have
known a woman say , of some very commonplace
and imperfect specimen of freehand embroidery,
“ it is so solemn ” ; or “ it is more fit for a church
than a house. For when once colour is set free
from connexion with frivolity , fashion and display,
the mere fact of revelling at will among “ gold and
>>
blue and purple and scarlet puts a woman whose
colour-sense is keen back into the atmosphere of the
inspired needle -workers who in ancient times
embroidered decorations for the Temple " as the
Lord gave them skill.” It is always a boon to a
woman whose working life is monotonous to find
herself able to externalize her apparently sense
less vagaries without fear of reprimand from her
own conscience, or the risk of unintelligent comment
from any one else. The boon is doubly great if
she can at the same time find herself, as to the form
of her work, constantly pulled into line, not with
human convention, but with Creative Harmony,
not by the word of a possibly mistaken human
teacher, but by the infallible guidance of some simple
geometric law.
The method here indicated has one great advan
tage over many kinds of educational reform ; it is
a thing which women can manage entirely without
agitation or public discussion . We need not wait
for Acts of Parliament or the permission of School
Inspectors. Any lady who will spend a few hours
in practising on the lines laid down by Mrs. Somer
vell will then be able to teach village children in
play, during the holidays. The materials are
cheap, the apparatus simple, and the work inter
esting to nearly all children . Moreover, the lessons
PREFACE 13
can be given in the open air, without desks or

chairs . Little teachers and little pupils , sitting in
a ring together on the ground, with a good selection
of coloured cottons on the grass at their feet, all
the young eyes glowing with eager curiosity to
see what pattern will come out next, form a picture
very pleasant to contemplate.
MARY EVEREST BOOLE .

AUTHOR'S NOTE
It should be clearly understood that the more

complicated designs given, are not intended to be
copied . The whole value of the curve sewing is in
the evolving of original design from a chosen geo
metrical framework. It is very difficult to copy
other people's designs until the work is quite
familiar ; while an hour or two's practice with
needle and thread enables anyone tostart making
their own designs .
The complicated figures in this book were nearly
all invented by children of eleven and twelve, who
had had about six months' irregular teaching .
Verbal explanations of how to work the designs
represented would have a quite false appearance
of being very complicated .
It is pointed out that Figs . VII and XXc re
present a design and finished card made entirely
by a child of five and a half.
14
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION 17
CHAPTER II
PRINCIPLES OF RHYTHMIC TRAINING 19
CHAPTER III
ON COLOUR 26
CHAPTER IV
THE USE OF THE CARDS 30
15
B
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The object of the work offered in the series of cards

printed to accompany this book and to be used
for sewing in schools, kindergartens , and nurseries ,
is to train in young children certain perceptions,
without the use of any intellectual statements whatever.
These perceptions, if awakened , without intellectual
effort or explanation , will enable the child
1. When the actual teaching of mathematics
begins, to approach the subject, not as something
new, strange, and abstract, but as orderly explana
tion of experiences long familiar to him , and charged
with pleasurable associations.
2. To become aware that there are laws of intimate
relation between number, form , movement, and the
>
process of thought.
3. By means of this sense of relation, to grow
able to translate readily any of these into terms
of any other There are also important indirect
results .
Beautiful curves are produced by a process so
simple and automatic that the most inartistic child
can succeed in generating beauty by mere conscien
tious accuracy ; and the habit of doing this tends
to produce a keen feeling for line . It has also
been noticed in some cases , where clean, pure ,
and strong colour has been used, that a remarkable
sensitiveness to colour relation has grown.
The habit which the work has been found to form ,
even in children of five or six years old, of constantly
17
18 A RHYTHMIC APPROACH TO MATHEMATICS
inventing patterns suggested by geometrical form ,

which frequently grow into familiar natural forms,
has the effect of keeping them harmlessly happy and
busy in a way which satisfies the creative instinct ;
the bearing of this on the future health of the child
can hardly be exaggerated .
It seems necessary to offer a few suggestions and
warnings, based on psychological principles of
orderly development.
Teachers are earnestly recommended
To refrain from explanation of the cards, and
from showing the children this teachers' book, giving
them an idea of the final result of what they are
doing .
To avoid pointing out, even in completed cards,
either beauties, or suggestion of nature forms which
the child has not yet noticed for himself.
To avoid hurrying the completion of any card .
Special notes regarding the use of colour, a most
important side of the work, are to be found on
page 26.
Finally, teachers are urged to give the utmost
possible freedom to children in suggesting and
working out their own ideas , both as to form and
colour. Very little ones may be encouraged to
show , with a pencil and paper, the kind of design
they wish to work ; but when they can use pencil,
ruler, and compasses , they can themselves invent
on a blackboard and work out on graph papers the
scheme for the framework, and then stitch it. Very
interesting and unexpected results will soon prove
to teachers that un -self- conscious power is being
evoked , such as is, in the teacher himself, indeed
>
he possess it, the outcome of intellectual effort and

knowledge, far beyond the reach of any small child.
CHAPTER II
PRINCIPLES OF RHYTHMIC TRAINING
CHILDREN who are being rhythmically trained

require plenty of leisure. It is of the very essence
of such training that a child should be left to brood
over — to feel — what he is singing, seeing, making ,
dancing
Just so far as the formed thoughts of an adult are
put into a child's mind in words, or even by con
scious “ good influence," so far is the formative
process, which it is the object of this training to
assist, interfered with.
With the majority of children, cheap and rapid
results may be easily obtained, based on imitation
of action , or on children's amazing facility for
thought reading, or imitation of thought.
Much that is called “ good influence ” is nothing
but deliberate encouragement of a child's power of
feeling and mimicking thought, and should be
avoided by the true teacher, as the climax of moral
injury which indulgence in “ teachers' lust ” may
do a pupil .
Strong, highly gifted children are often thus
driven into bored acquiescence , or rebellion, tacit or
expressed, and it is exactly for such children that
rhythmic training is of even more importance than
for the more commonplace.
In the work here suggested, much of what, in
19
ordinary teaching, has to be attempted by the

teacher, and is of necessity done irregularly , or
badly, happens to be carried out automatically and
perfectly, provided it is not interfered with, and
above all provided no moral is ever drawn in words.
For example, in the drawing lesson the teacher sets
a model, either flat or solid , before the children , who
copy thecurves as well as they can ; at first, of course ,
very badly. This is necessary and valuable experi
ence for learning to draw . But in the hour devoted
to rhythmic training, the curve to be produced is
not put before the child ; something quite different
is all that can be seen ; he is made to work on that
something, in straight lines , according to a set rule,
and the curve grows under his hands, an exact
replica of what would have resulted had the teacher
been working by the same rule, on the same design,
always supposing the child has made no careless
mistake .
The process in this respect is allied to that of
learning arithmetic, In working a sum , it is not
sufficient that a child should gradually approximate
to the teacher's results. If he has worked his rule
accurately, the result is identical . Every child
enjoys colour and form more or less , and the race
perception of these is far more evolved than that of
number. It is , therefore, rather important to intro
duce into the realm of colour and beauty that sense
of the possibility of being kept absolutely right by
obedience to inevitable Law, which in European
education has been too much relegated to the domain
of arithmetic, in itself a rather dull subject to most
children . It is desirable to associate, in young
children's minds , strict obedience to law with
keen enjoyment of that sense of personal power
given by finding an organic form growing under

one's touch .
The results obtained by a child , of exquisite
curved and flower forms on the back ” of his card ,
by faithful obedience to a dull little rule in making
straight stitches on the “ front, " is of the nature of
a miracle. It should , therefore , be hardly necessary
to insist that the less said the better, when the little
worker produces anything especially beautiful or
unexpected .
One of the most important points in rhythmic
training is to introduce aa child to any new idea some
time before it is proposed to let him work on the idea ,
and this not only in larger matters, in the way
which is embodied in the whole relation between the
Boole curve work and mathematics proper, but in
small details throughout their schoolroom work .
In the experience of аa small group of teachers who
are engaged in experimenting in this direction , it
has been found better to introduce children to a new
subject during the last half of the summer term , or
even sooner, giving three or four lessons on it and
then dropping it altogether till the following autumn
or Christmas.
When it is taken up three or six months later, and
regular teaching begun , in a few weeks the children
seem to have a grip of the matter, and a capacity
for further progress, quite disproportionate to the
amount of time and teaching hitherto spent on it.
Some assimilative process has gone on unconsciously ,
which has transmuted the material and formed, as
it were, a framework, or pattern, or crystallizing
thread, on which the new matter shapes and builds
itself. The results of experiments on these lines on
a larger scale would be of very great interest .
Should they show results similar to those already

obtained, many of the greatest of modern education
problems would be on the way to solution .
Were it found possible to rhythm the curriculum
to any large extent, taking up first one set of subjects
and then another, making cycles of work correspond
ing to the cycle of the year , the number of subjects
taught at any time might be reduced, while nothing
essential need be neglected. Many things point to
the possibility that such treatment would show far
better results than the continuous study of the same
set of subjects, besides bringing about a sense of
unity in diversity in the child's apprehension . There
is even reason, based, as yet, on very limited ex
periment, to hope that in this way an automatic
test may exist, to indicate over-strain before it has
reached the very costly stage of injury to health .
The preliminary introduction should of course
deal more with the general scope and purpose of the
new subject than with any technical detail of drud
gery ; e.g. , if the violin is to be taught, play a
good deal to the child, of course, show (not as a
“ lesson ” at all) a violin string vibrating, with bits of
paper astride the nodes and between them — the
principle of stopping and producing different notes
by plucking the strings — the beautiful and ingenious
construction ; tell stories of the Cremona makers ;
show (if possible) barbaric stringed instruments in
museums, aiming, for the moment, only at rousing
a strong desire to know and understand and use
the wonderful thing.
To those interested in the principles of rhythmic
training it may be well to point out the undesirability
of hurrying the synthetic process . As an example,
teachers are warned against attempts at imitation
of flower and leaf forms . Some interesting experi

ments have been made in this direction ; but it is
felt that in the present state of knowledge on
this intricate subject, it is premature to publish
results . The forms produced only look rather like
certain flowers and leaves, which really are made
by other curves obeying exceedingly complicated
laws .
There is some reason to believe that steady use of
forms which are evolved from geometric designs , the
laws of which are understood, may produce in the
children faculty which will give them an intuitive
grasp of constructive principles ; the children will
themselves then evolve type forms, at any rate, of
vegetable and animal orders of great complexity .
The work, therefore, should always be from
geometric to flower and leaf forms—never an en
deavour on part either of teacher or child to
choose flower and leaf forms for which a geometrical
framework can be found — thence obtaining an ap
proximate likeness to the curves of the natural
growths .
Such pretty -looking things can easily be made in
this way that it may prove a temptation to many
but to yield to it is likely to retard the growth of
the work, and even to stunt or deform it, both
artistically and educationally. The danger would
seem to be the same as that which has been so slowly
1 See No. 7 of Fig. XIX . Series of nine treatments of the
pentagon , p -56. This form, suggesting an orchid , was evolved
by a young child ( 102 years old), by a “ three ” treatment of
a “ five ” figure. Botanists will recognize the great interest
of this apparent accident. See also Fig. I, p. 24, which , by
means of a nonagon , treated with curves of pursuit, evolves
the type form of the violaceae.
recognized in the now old-fashioned training of

young draughtsmen on so - called conventional design
of an inferior order. These designs were not
the result of a close and intimate study of geometric
laws on one side, and of natural forms and laws on
Nonagon treated with curves of pursuit.

FIG . I.
the other, thus gradually soaking into the young

>
mind a deep perception of the unity of all laws, and

giving the synthetic power shown in all great decor
ative design (as must have been the case with the
geometrically trained minds of the great Greek
artists) ; but were obtained by a facile imitation,

or rather caricature , of certain obvious lines and
numerical relations in the parts of flowers which
were then fitted , with cheap facility , into equally
simple and obvious geometrical framework . It
was merely another and subtle form of cramming,
with the inevitable loss of truth, of real knowledge,
and of intellectual rectitude .
This work draws its own morals , and engraves its
laws deep down in the hearts and minds of children .
To assimilate its teaching they should have abundant
time, brooding time , true play-time, not only games
and ordered play, supervised and directed by a
grown -up -- but time when they may do their own
will , write, read , draw, dig , romp , sing , or play with
toys of their own choice, or thoughts of their own .
“ Abundant time to dream , to watch the clouds,
the wind in the grass , the stars swinging round the
heavens , to listen to the music of falling waters and
upspringing lark , to grow sensitive in body, soul
and spirit, to the secret rhythms of slowly growing
things."
The dreams of youth are the stuff which manhood
transmutes into thought and action. To many
among us it seems that by a reverent standing aside,
and abstinence from the natural longing to see results,
the way is open to minister to a generation of young
men , who shall dream dreams , fulfilling beyond
hope the visions of old men, saints and seers , who
have gone before.
CHAPTER III
ON COLOUR
With regard to colour, for beginners and in very

large classes where cheapness of material is essential ,
1 Harris's flax threads can be used , or the French
D.M.C. mercerized cotton ; but the colours in the
latter are not quite satisfactory, especially when com
bined . The flaxes can be ordered as the “ Rain
bow ” colours, and are strongly recommended.
Filoselle silk can be obtained in a fine range of
colour, and the use, with older children , of two
threads of different colours or shades in the needle
enables the workers to produce excellent results.
Little children must use a single thread .
It is suggested that the standard of colour for
beginners should be set by the colours of the precious
gems , and the rainbow .
By this is meant, not that the colours usually
‫ور‬ >
called “ ruby red ,' “ emerald green ,” etc. , shall be
used, but that some trouble shall be taken to match
the gems .
Those who have actually done this are usually sur
prised to find how different the real colours of the
gems are from those conventionally named after
them.
The following numbers in Pearsall's washing
filoselle have been matched as closely as possible
1 For particulars of this and other material, see list at
end.
26
1
2
PLATE II .
ON COLOUR 27
with emeralds (pale) , rubies (a darker shade of the

>
same range would be satisfactory, but is not at

present dyed, except in knitting silk) , sapphires,
amethysts and topaz . Several shades are given ,
but all in the same ranges of colour.
Reds 217
219
220a Matched to a pale ruby.
Blues 20c
20g Matched to a good sapphire.
Yellow 186a
186e
186h
Orange . 1861
Purple 240a
164a
242a Matched to a reddish amethyst.
Greens 85
87 Difficult to match , but fairly near a
medium quality emerald .
These silks used either singly or in double threads
produce excellent results . The use of “ pretty "
delicate shades in early stages , to secure effects
familiar and pleasing to adults, whose colour sense
may not be developed, is much to be deprecated.
It is recommended to let young children use only
the darker or medium shades at first.
The gems and the rainbow set the standard in its
simplest perfection , and if the children are allowed
to use and “ play ” with these freely, the more
subtle and complex combinations suggested by them
selves later will have the rightness of fine Oriental
work .
Filoselle is a rather troublesome silk to handle ;
but it has been found by embroiderers that the most
satisfactory way is to wind each skein on a card, and
cut from these a length to divide . The remains of

the strand can then be drawn with a large crewel
needle through a pincushion ; the bundle of such
remains laid on the table is a valuable help in train
ing the colour sense, and suggesting combinations
to the class. A certain quantity gets wasted by
entanglement ; but this is trifling in cost,, and is more
than made up for by the suggestiveness of the mass
66
of colour . The so-called art ” colours , such as
peacock " blue, " olive " green , " terra - cotta ,
etc. , are most injurious to a right development of
colour sense. They are an attempt to produce ready
made, in a solid mass , some of the most subtle effects
of nature and of highly developed Art . Such effects
are never obtained by a solid mass of one colour
but by a varied surface, very finely broken- up , of
two, three, or more shades and colours, so arranged
as to give to the eye the feeling of one particular
shade. Often , as in mosaic , feathers, or the colour
of vegetation , they depend for their effect on the
texture of the surface, and on the way such texture
catches and breaks up the light, and cannot pos
sibly be repeated truthfully in another material, in
a flat mass of colour .
It is well to get children to experiment largely in
the great variety of effects they can get by mixed
threads of purple and blue, blue and green , green
and red , green and purple, red and blue, yellow and
green , yellow and blue, yellow and purple , yellow and
red, before adding much to the first set — and then to
add nothing which will not mix well with the masses
of all the rest .
It should be made an absolute rule , when once the
colour range has been chosen, to allow the children
to select quite freely for their own work , and never
>
ON COLOUR 29
to guide and suggest or to criticize their combina

tions , however crude. Should a child make a very
ugly choice, let him finish the card, and then a few
weeks later look at it again, and see if he has any
criticism to make . There is interest and instruction
to be found in watching the developing colour sense
astonishing to those who have not experimented
in this direction. Most adults have not developed
this freely, and are more or less tied up by conven
tional rules, or degraded taste produced by early
>
familiarity with bad colour, and the children's com

binations are freer, bolder, and more right than those
which ordinary adults would venture on.
CHAPTER IV
THE USE OF THE CARDS
It remains now only to make a few remarks on the

best way of using the cards. The first few cards,
with lettering, are meant to be used for sewing on,
directly. This may,, of course , be done with any of
the cards. But a better effect is produced by the
more economical method explained on the envelope
containing the cards. Paper clips can be used for
attaching the pattern card to the blank one. This
is far the neatest way of working, and has the great
educational advantage of obliging children mentally
to reconstruct their geometrical framework when
looking at finished cards of their own , or to find
‫לל‬
it out in those done by other children . " Graph ”
paper sheets of the right size for 7 x 7 and
10 x 11 cards are also obtainable ; these are suit
able for original designing, and can be attached
to a blank card in the way suggested . The cards
printed with concentric circles and various polygons
make a good basis for original designing.
A couple of specimen lessons showing the prin
ciples of the work are added, and some remarks
on the experience of the few teachers who have as
yet used this method
1 See list at end.
30
THE PARABOLA AND THE CURVE OF PURSUIT
Though the Parabola is the curve which children

should first sew on the cards , and in the case of small
children the only one they can conveniently use for
some time, it seems best, after much thought and
some experience, to recommend teachers to face an
apparent intellectual confusion by first introducing
to children the curve of pursuit . The reason of this
is that a clearer and more complete subconscious
impression of the principles involved may be made,
introducingat once the idea that the laws of curve
formation do not deal only with happenings among
inanimate things and forces, but are a notation of
laws of thought sequence. The first lesson may
66
therefore be given by the dog -path ” story, as
explained in Mrs. Boole's Lectures on the Logic of
Arithmetic (Clarendon Press 2s. ) , and here repeated
in slightly different form .
Fig. II . This lesson should be given on a black
board , or with a pencil and paper. R represents a
rabbit feeding at some distance from his burrow B.
D is a dog who catches sight of the rabbit. These
three points are all that should appear upon the
board at first.
Question . " What does the dog wish to do when
he first sees the rabbit ? ” (To kill the rabbit.)
‫לל‬
Q. Where then does he wish to be ? ( At R
killing the rabbit) . Draw a line D R representing
this wish . Determine the length of each jump of
dog, and of rabbit R to rı , D to di :
Q. What does he he do do ?? '” (Begins
( running
along) . Then draw from the children the wish of
the rabbit when it catches sight of the dog. (To be
C
safe in the burrow B ). The action of the rabbit .
1
(To run from D to d ). But while the rabbit
Y
| runs to P, the dog, running from R to tu, sees itd )
the rabbit is no longer at rı,1 ) so having got as far
as d, he changes his wish , and instead of wishing
to be at rı1 , wishes to be at rz , and so on .
Make the children indicate several changes of the
dog's desire, and the constant coincidenceof desire
and action on the part of the rabbit ; see that they
Rp pada per pa B
FIG . II.
can clearly point out on the board straight lines

which represent the dog's wishes, and the curve
which represents his actions. Draw from them the
reason these do not coincide, as in the rabbit's case
(because they are perpetually modified by the rabbit's
actions).
Q. " What sort of lines have you drawn on the
blackboard ? " (Straight lines . )
Q. What sort of line is D, d,, d,, dz, etc. ? (A
curve.)
‫ور‬
Q. Who made the curve ? Leave this ques
tion as a suggestion unanswered . If possible, allow
two small children to act dog and rabbit, that the
class may see that the pursuing child does actually
make a curve like that on the board. If this is done
in the playground a little bag of rice or dry sand tied
to thechild and trailing behind him will show the
curve more clearly.
SECOND LESSON
Try to draw from the children whether they know

of any other curves making themselves (not fixed
curves), or curves that they themselves make with
anything else they do besides running. Lead them
to speak of ball-play. Throw a balli up from one
hand to the other ; or let two children do it at vary
ing distances from one another.
66
Q. What makes the ball go up ? (The

impetus given by the throw . )
Q. “ What makes the ball come down ? (The
earth pulling it down .)
Q. “ Are you really sure that the earth pulls
things down ? How are you sure ? Can you feel
it pulling things down ? '” Endeavour to make them
feel the pull on their own hands of light and heavy
1 Teachers who are well used to playing with balls can
demonstrate the identity of the parabola with the curve
of a rising and falling ball, by drawing a parabola on a
blackboard and throwing a white ball close against the
board at such an angle and with such an impetus that the
children can see the ball taking the same curve as that
drawn on the board .
To do this really well will probably be very much easier
to men than to women teachers, and is an experiment which
is better not ventured upon without certainty of success.
things, and the pull on themselves when they jump.

Would they like to make this same curve that a ball
makes when it is thrown up and drawn down again ,
so that they can keep it and look at it and take it
home ? Cards 1 , 2 and 3, Series I, may be given out
>
for them to sew . Avoid giving the same card to the

whole class. Let the children thoroughly realize
that the direction in which the stitches are set are
E
B
L M
H J
A B C D E F G
FIG. III.
opposite directions on the two lines making the

angle .
Fig. III . A on one line is close to the angle, and A
on the other line is as far away as it can be. (Sup
posing the angle to be London, one line is like a
train coming to London, and the other line is like
a train going from London . The holes are like sta
tions on the way. ) When the card has been worked,
A to A , B to B , etc. , point out that the children all
sewed straight stitches. Suggest again, as in Lesson
66
I, Who made the curve ? ” Do not offer any
solution . From this point onwards the children
may go on sewing the cards in Set I, gradually >
learning the rules for the sewing.

1. Make up your mind in which directions you
wish the stitches to go on the two lines . Lightly
pencil the directions with arrows.
2. From the first hole on one line put your needle
into the first hole going in the opposite direction on
the other line .
>
3. On the "“ wrong or “ pattern ” or “ ugly " or
૮૮.
front ” side always put your needle into the next
hole, and put on this side all knots and finishings.
‫לל‬ 66
4. On the “ beautiful or curve ” side, or “ the
back ," put your needle into the hole next to the last
long stitch which you made.
Get the children gradually to understand these
rules as they work, pointing out which one has been
broken when a mistake has been made .
Wherever it is possible, allow the children to com
bine angles and draw their own designs-either
roughly , freehand, or on a blackboard, or on che
quered paper, according to age and ability.
It is , of course, most desirable, where possible, to
teach geometrical drawing to children alongside of
this curve work.
It is very important to encourage perpetually
inversions of design. Cards 11 and 12, Series I , are
>
good specimens of this . It is useful to let children

cut up a printed design and put it together again ,
inverting all angles as in Kindergarten paper fold
ing and cutting. As much freedom as possible
in putting original designs upon the cards should
be encouraged , e.g. , placing the design not straight
or symmetrically with the edges of the card. Chil
dren should occasionally be encouraged to sew on

quite irregular figures, of which Fig. IV is an in
stance .
In the opinion of one mathematical teacher of
exceptional ability , this possibility for young chil
dren of inverting geometrical figures freely is one
of the most useful features in the Boole curve work .
a
wi
m
FIG . IV.
THE CURVE OF PURSUIT
This is the curve given first of all-in the dog and

rabbit story (p. 32) . When children are old enough to
measure distances carefully, and have had a thorough
drilling in working parabolas on every kind of angle,
they can learn to work this curve in the same way.
The difference in working is, of course, that instead
of fixing the holes before the work is begun, the holes
can be pricked only on the line of the pursued ; on
the path of the pursuer, each stitch set is the fresh
line or tangent, along which the distance must be
measured for pricking the intersecting point of the
next tangent. Figs . V and VI show the back and

front of a treatment of this curve, invented, ex
plained and worked by a carpenter's daughter,
dogs
For a are two men ,
A & to both run toc , then D runs

efter B & &E mushrs after Аa when the
dogs are chasedby the men,4Grunning
after b of F after &
FIG . V.
aged 12, after five lessons given by a child of her

own age.
Card No. 10, Series III, may now be given to the
children to sew. The dots for holes must be clearly
understood by the child to represent the successive
leaps of the rabbit. The length of the leaps of the dog

must be fixed, as have been those of the rabbit, and a
stitch must be set from D to R. The needle must be
brought up again through the next hole r, and the
F E
С
A B
G
D
FIG. VI .
stitch drawn tight. Then the needle must be left

for a moment, and with dividers or a paper measure
>
a prick must be made on the last stitch D R , distant

from D exactly the length which was decided on for
3
PLATE III .
the dog's jump ; and the needle must be put through

this hole making a long stitch from r, to d .
Again on this stitch the dog's jump must be
measured to D, and pricked and a stitch brought
from d, to r2 and so on .
The whole set of designs to be got from this curve
are of course quite different from designs got from
the parabola — where exactly the same geometrical
frame-work is used and children are delighted to
find this out by working the same designs succes
sively with the two different curves . (See XXIIe , >
XXIIIa , and coloured plates I?, II, III, IVI .

The cards 11 and 12, Series III , show how the idea
can be given of using it decoratively .
In allowing a class to work this , each child should
be allowed to determine the speeds, and the cards will
all be different.
Children sometimes like to make dog or rabbit
run quicker half-way through the card or be “ too
>
tired to go so fast or remember that the dog is
lazy or old . Such fancies should be allowed free
play. One little boy of 5] who was watching the
curve being worked insisted that the second thread of
silk used should be red instead of yellow— “ COS cos
when Jack ( the dog) runs he gets so hot — and when I
gets hot I gets a red face . "
For the reasons indicated on page 19 this kind of
thing is on no account to be called nonsense, or
discouraged . The aim of all rhythmic training is to
get children to feel the things through the senses and
imagination, which the reason is afterwards to deal
with .
It will probably be found that the children will
readily enter into the idea of this curve, as it will have
been introduced to them long before .
The two curves given in these lessons, the parabola

and the curve of pursuit, freely handled in decora
tive combinations with circles, triangles, squares, 1
oblongs, polygons, etc. , will give abundant scope

for two or three years' work and play.
Fig . VII .
Fig. VII is an untouched reproduction from the

original design of a child aged 57. The finished
card is reproduced on page 61 , Fig . XXc, as the
child worked it—no mistake corrected .
The children will themselves find many ingenious
and beautiful combinations, and will evolve parts of

other curves by the manner of working, as , e.g.
XXI , A2 ,) which is made by arcs of a circle worked
against a straight line ; this is really quite a different
curve . ( Fig. XIX aa and b, page 58-60. )
THE CIRCLE
Delightfuldesigns can be evolved from circles alone .
a
B
C DE
Fig. VIII.
Fig. VIII. Children can produce the caustic curve,

which they can look at in a tea -cup, made by refraction
of light, by making two concentric circles, and prick
ing them so that the number of holes on the larger
circle is double that on the smaller circle. The child
should then join, by a stitch, the outer and inner
circles, and go on joining points successively all
round . When he has stitched into every hole on
the inner circle , he must go straight on in the same
direction, round and round , until he finds himself
at the place where he is beginning to put stitches
into the same two holes that he began with. The
pattern is then complete of what he sees in the tea
cup . The curve is not, however, complete , and it

would be well to let him draw the complete curve
later. It is not easily done with sewing.
This curve can be varied very largely by varying
the radii, and also by varying the number of points
on the two circles, producing a series of exceed
ingly complex curves (evolutes of epitrochoids, etc. ) .
See page 65,1 Fig. XXIV.
Another treatment of the circle, which delights
children , is :-Divide aa circle into three, four, six, or
eight equal parts ; on each of these ares prick an
equal number of holes ; begin taking stitches from
the first hole on one arc to the first hole on the next
arc, from the second hole to the second, and so on.
Change the colour each time you reach the beginning
of a fresh arc, or use two colours alternately. A
beautiful ring of colour will appear, varying in width
inversely with the number of divisions on the circle,
and giving an odd effect of movement. It is best to
divide the circle into quarters for young children,
when beginning a set of cards like this. No. 10, 2
Series I, is planned to be worked in this way, and

the blue and green ring in the coloured plate I, illus
trates the effect.
>
The “ mystic rose ” is very fascinating to children.
Take any number of equidistant points on the cir
cumference of a circle, choose a colour, and join one
point to every other one ; for the next point take
a fresh colour, and do the same thing again, all
round. Shell effects are produced when there are
1 Since these pages were written, some beautiful cards
have been worked by inverting the method, and setting the
stitches in directions opposite to each other, instead of
going round both circles in the same direction. Series
VI, for the spiral of Archimedes can be used also for set
ting out these circles with varying numbers of points.
only two or four points , but when a large number,

18, 36, or more points are used , the whole design
forms innumerable exquisite curves by intersection
(spirals, etc.) , according to the fineness of the
thread and the number of points on the circle.'
Fig. XXIII, B, and No. 6, Series III of the cards.
Stitches can be set on circles, divided in this
manner, from one point to certain other points,
alternately or in any other sequence, each sequence ,
of course, producing quite different results.
THE TRACTORY Fial
Fig. XXVI, e and f, page 67, represent decorative
>
designs made by using this curve on a circle. The

principle of this curve may be explained to children
as follows :
Fig . IX . A man a has an iron rod of the length
a.c. He walks from a to b, dragging the rod after
him , and continues to walk along a.b to al , a2, a3 , etc.
The rod is, of course , always of the same length ,
but the end of it does not take the same line that
the man takes . (This can be demonstrated by
allowing a child to pick up , and walk away with
a long rod, which shall first be placed at an angle
to the direction in which the child is to go.) The
curve represents a line taken by some particular
spot anywhere near the end of the rod . The curve
must be worked by measuring each stitch from
1 In the case of one child of very passionate and impe
tuous disposition, working this figure seems to have a very
soothing effect; the child often resorting to it when “ at
two ” with the world in general, and becoming quite calm >
and happy after half-an -hour or more on the “ mystic rose.
Children often seem to have a special fondness for the use
of one set of figures or one particular curve, and careful
observations relating to this would be of great interest.
successive points on the man's path to a point

on the last stitch, making the distance between
>
these the same as a.c, that is, of the determined

length of the rod . If no point on the stitch is far
as
all
аз
‫ܕܘ‬
01
a
C
FIG . IX .
enough away , the point required will be in the same

straight line with the stitch but beyond its end.
( See Fig . X. )
When the child understands the law of this curve
he can produce some very interesting results by

placing the starting point of the rod at different
places -
B
ao
03
2
ರ
ರ'
la
A
FIG. X.
1. At right angles to the direction of the man's

path .
2. At an obtuse angle to the direction of the
man's path .
3. At an acute angle.
In the latter case a cusp is made as the rod goes
backwards first, before it appears to begin to follow
the man's path . (Fig. X. )
FIG. XI.
THE SPIRAL OF ARCHIMEDES
Fig. XXVI , a, b, cC and d, illustrate , and the whole

packet of Series VI of the cards is provided to facili
tate , the use of the Spiral of Archimedes . The princi
ple is shown in Fig. XI , and a, b ard d, page 67 , are
>
combinations designed and executed by children

under twelve .
The following valuable suggestions are offered
by Miss Eleanor Cobham, and the attention of
teachers is drawn to the necessity of thus balancing
the use of one method against another in giving a
real grip of a subject through the sense-percep
tions of little children .
“ It may be suggested that a little child's mathe
matical apprehension will be built up on a sounder
basis if he practises some other method of getting
curves alongside of the tangent method described
in this book .
66
One of the best ways is to watch a curve grow
as the path of a moving point, and to allow it to
grow under one's hand as a result of muscular
obedience to some constraint, instead of, as in
the tangent method, mental obedience to some law.
66
The simplest case possible for very young
children is that of tracing a circle with a pencil
placed within a loop of cotton passed over the head
of a pin .
“ In this connexion two suggestions may be
made . The first is this :-)
-When at a later age the
child learns geometrical drawing with compasses
and other accurate instruments , he is usually taught
in drawing a circle to stop his compasses as soon as
the circuit is completed, for the sake of neatness.
“ But a little child making his circle round a
pin should be allowed to follow the track round
and round again and again . He thus gets the
feeling of inevitableness which is an important
adjunct to the locus idea .
“ The second suggestion is as to the value of the
chief imperfection in this method of getting a curve.
D
It often happens that the pencil in the little hand
jumps the cotton, and goes off in a straight line.
This experience repeated many times in early
childhood lays a good foundation for later intel
lectual conceptions of tangents and tangential
motion .
“ Later on ellipses, made with two pins , and
trifocal and multifocal figures should be followed
by curves made with trammels and simple linkages.
With this drawing practice should be associated
the observation of three -dimensional curves being
formed by the path of a glowing point - e.g. by
rapidly whirling a joss-stick in a dark room .”
Other examples are to be found in Mrs. Boole's
The Preparation of the Child for Science.
(Clarendon Press .)
Many other curves seem to lend themselves for
use by children in some such way as those here
indicated ; but enough has been suggested for
several years' school work. It is hoped that later
a good deal more material will be available ; as
also a method for making three-dimensional curves
by easy methods.
Meantime the co -operation of mathematicians
and teachers is asked, in kindly offering fresh sug
gestions and giving results of experience. The
author would be especially grateful if mathematical
teachers would give any hints as to special points
to be aimed at, with the object of forming good
mental habits, such as that of ready inversion .
In conclusion, the author is very well aware that
the method here sketched is only an elementary
introduction to the possibilities opened up by the
insight of Mrs. Boole, and of her daughter Mrs.
Walter Stott. The substitution of the homely
3
4
PLATE IV .
needle and thread for the delicate and difficult

instruments of mathematicians, and of geometric
and mathematical forms for derived design , has
set little children with their abundant leisure and
fearless ignorance safely exploring the wonderland of
beauty, hitherto reserved for thinkers and mathe
maticians .
Out of the mouth of babes there is ever much to
learn for any who are ready ; and familiarity in
the concrete, from childhood , with the material of
a subject hereafter to be dealt with in the abstract,
has been the secret of the success of many a dis
coverer . What may be the outcome when the
young mind is set thus swinging to the pulsing
vibrations which we call Music , Colour, Form ,
Number, throbbing throughout the Universe in
minutest flower and crystal underfoot, as in the
immeasurable abysses of stellar space ?
“ It is the primaeval life that wakes now and
again , that feels the rhythm of a poem, the pulse of
a pattern, the chime of a dancer's feet."
In the beginning when the sun was lit
The maze of things was marshalled to a dance ;
Deep in us lie forgotten strains of it
Like obsolete, charmed sleepers of romance .
And we remember, when on thrilling strings
And hollow flutes the heart of midnight burns,
The heritage of splendid moving things
Descends on us, and the old power returns.1
1 Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion . By Jane
Harrison .
Fig . XII .
NAVAV
B
B2 B:3
H
A1
DE
Fig. XIII.–Very simple borders on squares and oblongs. C

is the back or frame for C , and C2, A for A1 , B, for
B, and Bg.
a b
A
Fig . XIV . – Various treatments of an equilateral triangle, with
lines from the centre to the angles or centre of sides.
А A1
HIK <<< Az
A,
B1
FIG. XV.-A is the framework for Aj , and with three added

squares for A, and Az. B is framework for Bi .
X Fig. XVIa .
a b
с d
е
f
o
Fig. XVI.—Treatments of a square with diagonals a, b, d, e
and f. c . The same with dotted line (Fig . XVIa ) used as
well as the diagonals.
B2 A1
A
B
Bi
A2
FIG. XVII.
FIG. XVIII .
Design made entirely of straight lines, and ruled with a ruler.
1 2
Fig. XIX.
6 7
А
8 9
Fig. XIXa. -A is the framework for all these treatments . In

3 and 4 the outside line is not used ; in 1 and 2 the outside
line is used .
a b
AVEATE
Fig. XIXb.—a, b, c are book-markers ; d and e Christmas cards,

all designed and worked by children .
a с
FIG. XX .-a and b are obtained by a circle bisected by a straight

line, and points on both joined. c is the working out by a
child of five and a half of his own design ( Fig. VII . ) . d is
a design made by a grown - up person on an ellipse , worked
by a child.
a
A1 Bi
o
A B
A, B2
Fig. XXI.—A4 and A2 are both worked from A. In 41 the

radius is worked in both directions against d of the circum
ference. In A2 against } in one direction only. B, B, and
B2 are three treatments of a hexagon, an octagon and a
heptagon respectively. Each figure can be treated in in
numerable ways .
a b
FIG. XXII.—Original designs made and worked at home by

village children in Norfolk , after five lessons given by
children of their own age ( between 9 and 12 years ).
a and e are treated with the curve of pursuit ; f, d and c with
the parabola.
E
Fig . XXIII.-- A , Curves of pursuit, 2 pursuers to one pursued

66 ‫לל‬
in each case . B, A mystic rose ( p. 40 ).
1
a b
FIG. XXIV . – Figures made by joining successive points on con

centric circles. Radius and number ofpoints of circles varying.
nu 스
Q
FIG. XXV .—Two photograph frames. Application to decora

tive purposes of the parabola only.
a d
Fig. XXVI.-a, b and d designs on the spiral of Archimedes,

designed and worked by children. C, The same by an
adult, with parabolas drawn by tangents in the angles.
e and f, Decorative applications of the tractory curve
drawn by tangents .
Boole Curve -Sewing Cards
Designed to accompany
“ A RHYTHMIC APPROACH TO MATHEMATICS ."
By EDITH L. SOMERVELL.
Consisting of seven packets of designs, each containing 12 cards.

Price 8d , net per packet.
Series I.
12 Elementary designs, meant to be worked successively by every
child.
Series II .
12 designs, consisting of equilateral triangles, various polygons,
squares and combinations.
Series III .
12 designs, not intended for consecutive use. 3 designs illustrating
the curve of pursuit, and 9 other cards to work with this curve or the
parabola , or combinations of both .
The way of using this packet should depend on the age and progress
of the children.
Series IV.
12 designs, consisting of corners and combinations chiefly with
circles.
A suitable set for giving children to work out alone according to
fancy.
Series V.
12 designs, consisting of various regular polygons, and the spiral of
Archimedes. These should prove useful as the basis of designs.
The polygon, which is difficult for a child to construct, may be
pricked on to a card or paper, and anything added to it according to
fancy.
Series VI .
12 designs, consisting of concentric circles with radial lines
(various), to be used for cards based on the spiral of Archimedes ; or
for children to construct for themselves polyspiral figures of almost
any size or shape.
For treatment of the spiral, the child may be allowed to pencil on
the paper the proposed design, and then to prick whichever points
will be needed on to the card .
Series VII .
12 designs, consisting of various combinations.
Suitable to give children to work alone.
GEORGE PHILIP & SON, LTD., 32 Fleet Street, London,
Liverpool : PHILIP, SON & NEPHEW, Ltd., 45-51 S. Castle Street.
Boole Curve -Sewing Occupation.
Materials as arranged to suit the directions
in
“ AA RHYTHMIC APPROACH TO MATHEMATICS .”
By E. L. SOMERVELL.
The “ Rainbow " Curve-Sewing Box, No. 1 . price, net, 5s .

Designed as a complete outfit for a family or small
class , containing : .
1 Complete set of Lace Threads, 15 reels . Rainbow

colours, thickness No. 20, 50 yards.
1 Packet Large Crewel Needles.
1 Packet each of Cards , Series 1 , 2 and 4, size 7 in . x 7 in .
1 Kindergarten Pricker.
1 Packet Chequered Card Papers, size 8 in .X8 in.
1 Packet of 12 Plain Cards, size 7 in . x 7 in .
1 Pad .
1 Almanack and Frame .
Paper Clips.
The “ Rainbow " Curve - Sewing Box, No. 2 . price, net, 10s .
Containing a larger outfit, for starting a class of 9 or 10
children .
SEPARATE MATERIALS .
Lace Threads. Specially dyed in the 15 “ Rainbow " Shades of Red , Blue,
Green , Yellow and Purple .
In reels , 50 yards length , size 20 or 100 per doz . , net, 2s, 6d .
9 100 ) 20 or 100 99 3s . 6d.
(Size 20 is for single thread work for beginners . )
(Size 100 is very fine for using double threads in mixed colours .)
Filoselle Silks. In same colours as above small skeins, per doz ., net, 2s,
Felt Pads, 8 in . x6 in . , Thin Quality . 1s. 6d .
8 in . x 6 in ., Thick Quality 2s . 3d.
Pricking Needles. Adjustable Handles 18.
Crewel Needles. Extra large size (in packets of 10 ) per doz . pkts ., net, 2s.
Plain Cards. Size 7 in . x 7 in . (in packets of 12 ) . per pkt ., net, 3d .
Size 12 in . x 10 in . ( for Frames ) 99 8d .
Chequered Papers, for original designing . Size 8 in . x 6 in . , per pkt. of 12 Shts . net, 3d,
Size 13 in . x11 in . 22 6d.
Paper Clips. For fixing the design to the blank Card for pricking . per doz . , net, 10 .
* Boole Curve-Sewing Cards. For use with above . Series I to VII, each containing
12 Cards , size 7 in . x 7 in . per pkt ., net, 8d .
Almanack Frames and Almanack One penny, or per pkt . of 12, net, 10d.
* For particulars of Boole Curve - Sewing Cards, etc. , see list facing title page of the book .
PHILIP & TACEY, LTD., The Central Educational Depot,
Norwich Street, Fetter Lane, London , E.C.
Liverpool : PHILIP, SON & NEPHEW, Ltd., 45-51 S. Castle Street.
Date Due
FEB 1960
MAR 1905
FEB 1967
66
FEB4491960 NCE CA
TENCEL 75.08
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CANCELLED
MAIN
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LIBRARY 971
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ANG
1975
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The Ohio State University
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LB118756 001
A RHYTHMIC APPROACH TO MATHEMATICS
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY BOOK DEPOSITORY
D AISLE SECT SHLF SIDE POS ITEM C

8 04 35 03 8 14 001 9

A Rhythmic Approach To Mathematics by Edith L Somervell

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A Rhythmic Approach To Mathematics by Edith L Somervell

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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized

by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the

Consisting of seven packets of designs

GEORGE PHILIP & SON, LTD ., 32, FLEET STREET

( All Rights Reserved )

WHO SHALL COME AFTER

WHO HAVE GONE BEFORF .

I HAVE been asked to write a short sketch of the

drawer with his tools, so as to learn the vocabulary

thought-sequence and the evolution of harmonious

but some of the children practised of their own

vagance ; and which, unsatisfied , drives not a

can be given in the open air, without desks or

MARY EVEREST BOOLE .

It should be clearly understood that the more

PRINCIPLES OF RHYTHMIC TRAINING 19

THE USE OF THE CARDS 30

The object of the work offered in the series of cards

inventing patterns suggested by geometrical form ,

he possess it, the outcome of intellectual effort and

PRINCIPLES OF RHYTHMIC TRAINING

CHILDREN who are being rhythmically trained

ordinary teaching, has to be attempted by the

given by finding an organic form growing under

Should they show results similar to those already

of flower and leaf forms . Some interesting experi

recognized in the now old-fashioned training of

Nonagon treated with curves of pursuit.

the other, thus gradually soaking into the young

mind a deep perception of the unity of all laws, and

artists) ; but were obtained by a facile imitation,

With regard to colour, for beginners and in very

with emeralds (pale) , rubies (a darker shade of the

same range would be satisfactory, but is not at

cut from these a length to divide . The remains of

to guide and suggest or to criticize their combina

familiarity with bad colour, and the children's com

THE USE OF THE CARDS

It remains now only to make a few remarks on the

THE PARABOLA AND THE CURVE OF PURSUIT

Though the Parabola is the curve which children

can clearly point out on the board straight lines

Try to draw from the children whether they know

Q. What makes the ball go up ? (The

things, and the pull on themselves when they jump.

for them to sew . Avoid giving the same card to the

opposite directions on the two lines making the

learning the rules for the sewing.

good specimens of this . It is useful to let children

dren should occasionally be encouraged to sew on

THE CURVE OF PURSUIT

This is the curve given first of all-in the dog and

next tangent. Figs . V and VI show the back and

A & to both run toc , then D runs

aged 12, after five lessons given by a child of her

leaps of the rabbit. The length of the leaps of the dog

stitch drawn tight. Then the needle must be left

a prick must be made on the last stitch D R , distant

the dog's jump ; and the needle must be put through