The chess-player Philidor could direct three games of chess at the same time, of one of which only he required occular inspection, the moves of the other two being announced to him by an assistant. The moves of the chess-men formed the subject, about which his thoughts were employed, and such was the intensity of interest and such the power of the will, that the mind found no difficulty in dwelling upon it to the entire exclusion of other subjects, and for a considerable length of time. " §. 154. Dependence of memory on attention. There seems to be no doctrine in mental philosophy more clearly established than this, that memory depends on attention; that is, where attention is very slight, remembrance is weak, and where attention is intense, remembrance continues longer. There are many facts, which confirm this statement. (1) In the course of a single day persons, who are in the habit of winking, will close their eyelids perhaps thousands of times, and as often as they close them, will place themselves in utter darkness. Probably they are conscious at the time both of closing their eyelids and of being in the dark, but as their attention is chiefly taken up with other things, they have entirely forgotten it.(2) Let a person be much engaged in conversation, or occupied with any very interesting speculation, and the clock will strike in the room where he is, apparently without his having any knowledge of it. He hears the clock strike as much as at any other time, but, not attending to the perception of sound and having his thoughts directed another way, he immediately forgets. (3) In the occupations of the day, when a multitude of cares are pressing us on every side, a thousand things escape our notice; they appear to be neither seen nor heard, nor to affect us in any way whatever. But at the stillness of evening, when anxieties and toils are quieted, and there is a general pause in nature, we seem to be endued with a new sense, and the slightest sound attracts our attention. Shakspeare has marked even this. "The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark "When every goose is cackling, would be thought It is on the same principle, that people, dwelling in the vicinity of waterfalls, do not appear to notice the sound. The residents in the neighborhood even of the great Cataract of Niagara are not seriously disturbed by it, although it is an unbroken, interminable thunder to all others.The reason in all these cases is the same, as has already been given. There is no attention, and no remembrance, and of course virtually no perception. (4) Whenever we read a book, we do not observe the words merely as a whole, but every letter of which they are made up, and even the minute parts of these letters. But it is merely a glance; it does not for any length of time occupy our attention; we immediately forget, and with great difficulty persuade ourselves that we have truly perceived the letters of the word. The fact, that every letter is in ordinary cases observed by us, may be proved by leaving out a letter of the word, or by substituting others of a similar form. We readily in reading detect such omissions or substitutions. (5) An expert accountant can sum up, almost with a single glance of the eye, a long column of figures. The operation is performed almost instantaneously, and yet he ascertains the sum of the whole with unerring certainty. It is impossible, that he should learn the sum without noticing every figure in the whole column, and without allowing each its proper worth; but the attention to them was so very slight, that he is unable to remember this distinct notice. Many facts of this kind evidently show, as we think, that memory depends upon attention or rather upon a continuance of attention, and varies with that continuance. §. 155. Of exercising attention in reading. If attention, as we have seen, be requisite to memory, then we are furnished with a practical rule of considerable importance. The rule is, Not to give a hasty and careless reading of authors, but to read them with a suitable degree of deliberation and thought. It is the fault of some persons, that they are too quickly weary, that they skip from one author to another, and from one sort of knowledge to another. It is true, there are many things to be known; we would not have a person limit himself entirely to one science, but it is highly important, that he should guard against that rapid and careless transition from subject to subject, which has been mentioned. Ifwe are asked the reason of this direction, we find a good and satisfactory one in the fact referred to at the head of this section, that there cannot be memory without attention, or rather that the power of memory will vary with the degree of attention. By yielding to the desire of becoming acquainted with a greater variety of departments of knowledge, than the understanding is able to master, and, as a necessary consequence, by bestowing upon each of them only a very slight attention, we remain essentially ignorant of the whole. The person, who pursues such a course, finds himself unable to recall what he has been over; he has a great many half-formed notions floating in his mind, but these are so ill shaped and so little under his control as to be but little better than actual ignorance. This is one evil result of reading authors and of going over sciences in the careless way, which has been specified, that the knowledge thus acquired, if it can be called knowledge, is of very little practical benefit, in consequence of being so poorly digested, and so little under control. But there is another and perhaps more serious evil. This practice greatly disqualifies one for all intellectual pursuits. To store the mind with new ideas is only a part of education. It is at least a matter of equal importance, to impart to all the mental powers a suitable discipline, to exercise those that are strong, to strengthen those that are weak, and to maintain among all of them a suitable balance. An attentive and thorough examination of subjects is a training up of the mind in both these respects. It furnishes it with that species of knowledge, which is most valuable, because it is not mixed up with errors; and, moreover, gives a strength and consistency to the whole structure of the intellect. Whereas, when the mind is long left at liberty to wander from object to object without being called to account and subjected to the rules of salutary discipline, it entirely loses at last the ability to dwell upon the subjects of its thoughts, and to examine them. And when this power is once lost, there is but little ground to expect any solid attainments. §. 156. Alledged inability to command the attention We are aware, that those, who, in accordance with these directions, are required to make a close and thorough examination of subjects, will sometimes complain, that they find a great obstacle in their inability to fix their attention. They are not wanting in ability to comprehend; but find it difficult to retain the mind in one position so long, as to enable them to connect together all the parts of a subject, and duly estimate their various bearings. When this intellectual defect exists, it becomes a new reason for that thorough examination of subjects, which has been above recommended. It has probably been caused by a neglect of such strictness of examination, and by a too rapid and careless transition from one subject to another. ATTENTION, it will be recollected, expresses the state of the mind, when it is steadily directed for some time, whether longer or shorter, to some object of sense or intellect, exclusive of other objects. All other objects are shut out; and when this exclusion of every thing else continues for some time, the attention is said to be intense-Now it is well known, that such an exclusive direction of the mind cannot exist for any long period, without being accompanied with a feeling of desire or of duty. In the greatest intellectual exertions, not the mere powers of judging, of abstracting, and of reasoning, are concerned; there will also be a greater or less movement of the feelings. And it will be found, that no feeling will effectually confine the minds of men in scientific pursuits, but a love of the truth. Mr. Locke thought, that the person, who should discover a remedy for wandering thoughts, would do great service to the studious and contemplative part of mankind. We know of no other effective remedy, than the one just mentioned, a LOVE OF THE TRUTH, a desire to know the nature and relations of things, merely for the sake of knowledge. It is true, that a conviction of duty will do much; ambition and interest may possibly do more; but when the mind is led to deep investigations by these views merely, without finding something beautiful and attractive in the aspect of knowledge itself, it is likely to prove a tiresome process. The excellency, therefore, of knowledge, considered merely in light of its be ing suited to the intellectual nature of man, and as the appropriate incentive and reward of intellectual activity, ought to be frequently impressed."I saw D'Alembert, (says a recent writer,) congratulate a young man very coldly, who brought him a solution of a problem. The young man said, 'I have done this in order to have a seat in the Academy.' 'Sir,' answered D'Alembert, with such dispositions you never will earn'one. Science must be loved for its own sake, and not for the advantage to be derived. No other principle will enable a man to make progress in the sciences!"* CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. DREAMING. §. 157. Definition of dreams and the prevalence of them. AMONG numerous other subjects in mental philosophy, which claim their share of attention, that of Dreaming is entitled to its place; nor can we be certain, that any other will be found more appropriate to it than the present, especially when we consider, how closely it is connected in all its forms with our sensations and conceptions. And what are Dreams ? It approaches perhaps sufficiently near to a correct general description to say, that they are our mental states and operations while we are asleep. But the particular views, which are to be taken in the examination of this subject, will not fail to throw light on this general statement. The mental states and exercises, which go under this name, have ever excited much interest. It is undoubtedly one reason of the attention, which the subject of our dreams has ever elicited among all classes of people, that they are so prevalent; it being very difficult, if not impossible, to find a person, who has not had more or less of this experience. Mr. * Memoires of Montlosier, Vol. I, p. 59, as quoted in Mackintosh's Ethical Philosophy. Sect. VII. |