Talk:History of synesthesia research

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Ed, Regarding the quote from Locke, I have been considering adding the following to the article:

"Although it is mainly speculation, there is reason, however, to suppose that the person Locke referred to was the mathematician and scientist Nicholas Saunderson, who held the Lucasian professor at Cambridge University, and whose generally prominence would have made his statements noticeable. In 'Letters on the blind', Denis Diderot, a disciple of Locke, mentions Saunderson specifically in related philosophical reflections."

I have held off on this, however, because, as you may see, I cannot yet provide a solid reference on this. I know that I had one, in the past, that was reliable (thus the blurb on my own web pages); however, like an idiot, I didn't record the cite there, and have since misplaced the reference. I'm trying one again to track it down.

My guess is that we should just hold off on this. However, considering how I have it worded, what do you think of its inclusion? It might provoke others to help substantiate it (maybe someone else could track down the reference quicker than I could).--Sean A. Day 14:36, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Hi Sean, I agree with you about Nicholas Saunderson; perhaps it's from you, but I have a distinct memory that I have heard this before (it's probably from you). I say we go ahead and put it up, and then add a {{fact}} tag to it in the hopes that someone else will find the reference for us quickly... the great distributed power of the internet. Someone might know this off the top of their heads, and of course, then we could add him to the famous synesthetes page, too. BTW, what about having someone besides us, like Jorg Jewanski look over what we have so far? I'm sure he could add a lot more detail. One thing that I would like to add is a paragraph about the artistic movement that grew up in European salons about the same time that scientific research into the topic began. I'll draft something tonight, and you can take a look at it when you get a chance. Edhubbard 17:09, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

I think it is an excellent idea to pull in Jörg regarding this. Re Saunderson, I am remembering better two different sources I looked at back about four years ago, when I was at Miami Univ. One was a copy of Locke, in which the editor added a bit re Saunderson in a footnote. The other was a biography of Saunderson, which noted this relationship re Locke. I will see if I can hunt them down. Meanwhile, I will insert my blurb about Saunderson into the Wiki article, as I feel quite confident about it and figure that, eventually, someone will find the supporting references.--Sean A. Day 18:04, 28 August 2006 (UTC)