DISTRIBUTION OF MEMORY 215 



sound of our own voice, certain interests and cares, a 

 certain feeling of comfort or discomfort according to 

 temperament or state of health, etc. (i, n). 



An inventory of all the memory-constituents of the 

 ego-complex of different persons would show that the 

 consciousness of self is not a definite unit, but, as 

 Mach maintains, merely an artificial separation of 

 those constituents of memory which occur most fre- 

 quently in our perceptions. These will necessarily 

 be subject to considerable variation in the same per- 

 son in the different periods of life. 



If we speak of loss or an interruption of conscious- 

 ness, we mean a loss or an interruption of the activity 

 of associative memory. If a faint is caused directly 

 by lack of oxygen or indirectly by a disturbance in the 

 circulatory system, the activity of associative memory 

 ceases. This was proved by Speck's experiments on 

 the effects of a low pressure of oxygen. When he 

 breathed air with less than eight per cent, of oxygen, 

 he soon fainted. In these experiments, he had to 

 count the number of respirations. Before he fainted, 

 he became confused in his counting and forgot what 

 happened. When this disturbance in counting began 

 to appear, he knew it was time to discontinue the ex- 

 periment. When a loss of consciousness is produced 

 by narcotics or anaesthetics, we have again to deal 

 with an interruption in the activity of the associative 

 memory. It is the same in the case of a deep sleep. 



The metaphysician speaks of conscious sensations 

 and conscious will. That the will is only a function 



