diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index 99eb5d31..58d62534 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 blocking bugs
 =============
 
+- hist norm broken?
+
+  hist match broken?
+
+
 - none!
 
 
diff --git a/libvips/conversion/im_scale.c b/libvips/conversion/im_scale.c
index 39b8fade..4c7ca058 100644
--- a/libvips/conversion/im_scale.c
+++ b/libvips/conversion/im_scale.c
@@ -78,8 +78,8 @@ im_scale( IMAGE *in, IMAGE *out )
 	 */
 	if( !t || !(stats = im_stats( in )) )
 		return( -1 );
-	mn = stats->coeff[0];
-	mx = stats->coeff[1];
+	mn = VIPS_MASK( stats, 0, 0 );
+	mx = VIPS_MASK( stats, 1, 0 );
 	im_free_dmask( stats );
 
 	if( mn == mx ) 
diff --git a/libvips/histograms_lut/im_histeq.c b/libvips/histograms_lut/im_histeq.c
index bcf4e395..2fe594a8 100644
--- a/libvips/histograms_lut/im_histeq.c
+++ b/libvips/histograms_lut/im_histeq.c
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ im_histnorm( IMAGE *in, IMAGE *out )
 	const guint64 px = VIPS_IMAGE_N_PELS( in );
 	DOUBLEMASK *stats;
 	double *a, *b;
-	int i;
+	int y;
 	IMAGE *t1;
 	int fmt;
 
@@ -175,9 +175,9 @@ im_histnorm( IMAGE *in, IMAGE *out )
 
 	/* Scale each channel by px / channel max
 	 */
-	for( i = 0; i < in->Bands; i++ ) {
-		a[i] = px / stats->coeff[6 + 1 + 6*i];
-		b[i] = 0;
+	for( y = 0; y < in->Bands; y++ ) {
+		a[y] = px / VIPS_MASK( stats, 1, y + 1 );
+		b[y] = 0;
 	}
 
 	im_free_dmask( stats );
diff --git a/libvips/histograms_lut/im_histplot.c b/libvips/histograms_lut/im_histplot.c
index db667eaf..a78b4f2a 100644
--- a/libvips/histograms_lut/im_histplot.c
+++ b/libvips/histograms_lut/im_histplot.c
@@ -105,8 +105,8 @@ normalise( IMAGE *in, IMAGE *out )
 
 		if( !(stats = im_stats( in )) )
 			return( -1 );
-		min = stats->coeff[0];
-		max = stats->coeff[1];
+		min = VIPS_MASK( stats, 0, 0 );
+		max = VIPS_MASK( stats, 1, 0 );
 		im_free_dmask( stats );
 
 		if( !(t1 = im_open_local( out, "im_histplot", "p" )) ||
diff --git a/libvips/include/vips/mask.h b/libvips/include/vips/mask.h
index db422c7e..be8f3730 100644
--- a/libvips/include/vips/mask.h
+++ b/libvips/include/vips/mask.h
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ typedef struct im__DOUBLEMASK {
 	char *filename;
 } DOUBLEMASK;
 
+#define VIPS_MASK( M, X, Y ) ((M)->coeff[(X) + (Y) * (M)->xsize])
+
 INTMASK *im_create_imask( const char *filename, int xsize, int ysize );
 INTMASK *im_create_imaskv( const char *filename, int xsize, int ysize, ... );
 DOUBLEMASK *im_create_dmask( const char *filename, int xsize, int ysize );
diff --git a/python/try2.py b/python/try2.py
index 014e39a4..cdb063ce 100755
--- a/python/try2.py
+++ b/python/try2.py
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ logging.basicConfig(level = logging.DEBUG)
 from vips8 import vips
 
 from gi.repository import Vips
-
 Vips.cache_set_trace(True)
 
 try:
diff --git a/python/try3.py b/python/try3.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..07908100
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/try3.py
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+
+import sys
+from vips8 import vips
+
+from gi.repository import Vips
+Vips.cache_set_trace(True)
+
+a = vips.Image(sys.argv[1])
+print a.max()
+print a.max()
+