From this point
onward the method varies. Sometimes the second 5 also is told off on the
left hand, the same order being observed as in the first 5; but oftener the
fingers of the right hand are used, with a reversal of the order previously
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.
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