employed; _i.e._ the thumb denotes 6, the index finger 7, and so on to the
little finger, which completes the count to 10.

At first thought there would seem to be no good reason for any marked
uniformity of method in finger counting. Observation among children fails
to detect any such thing; the child beginning, with almost entire
indifference, on the thumb or on the little finger of the left hand. My own
observation leads to the conclusion that very young children have a slight,
though not decided preference for beginning with the thumb. Experiments in
five different primary rooms in the public schools of Worcester, Mass.,
showed that out of a total of 206 children, 57 began with the little finger
and 149 with the thumb. But the fact that nearly three-fourths of the
children began with the thumb, and but one-fourth with the little finger,
is really far less significant than would appear at first thought. Children
of this age, four to eight years, will count in either way, and sometimes
seem at a loss themselves to know where to begin. In one school room where
this experiment was tried the teacher incautiously asked one child to count
on his fingers, while all the other children in the room watched eagerly to
see what he would do. He began with the little finger--and so did every
child in the room after him. In another case the same error was made by the
teacher, and the child first asked began with the thumb. Every other child
in the room did the same, each following, consciously or unconsciously, the
example of the leader. The results from these two schools were of course
rejected from the totals which are given above; but they serve an excellent
purpose in showing how slight is the preference which very young children
have in this particular. So slight is it that no definite law can be
postulated of this age; but the tendency seems to be to hold the palm of
the hand downward, and then begin with the thumb. The writer once saw a boy
about seven years old trying to multiply 3 by 6; and his method of
procedure was as follows: holding his left hand with its palm down, he