1 68 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



When the imagination is kept within bounds by the intellect it dis- 

 covers many general truths. Even our senses are constantly deceiving 

 us when uncontrolled by the judgment. This control is lacking in the 

 insane and in brutes. A horse that shies at a piece of paper blown 

 across its path is doubtless influenced by its imagination. Its primal in- 

 stinct is self-preservation and the unusual object portends danger. An 

 unaccustomed noise or smell often produces the same effect. 



Fiction, including poetry, is generally the production of a kind of 

 unsystematic meditation in which successive steps are not logically cor- 

 related. These steps are the result of association, or suggestion and re- 

 integration. If they follow each other in strictly logical order they 

 could exhibit but little variety, perhaps none at all. Often a word or an 

 idea brings into the mind another idea or concept that has a merely 

 accidental connection with it. The process can not be foreseen because 

 it is not alike in any two individuals. Neither can it be retraced or re- 

 peated, which may always be done when a chain of reasoning is strictly 

 scientific. It usually has no very definite purpose and is rarely based on 

 definite knowledge. In fact, definite knowledge usually dissipates a 

 state of mind that does not differ widely from delusion. " Poetry/' 

 says Wordsworth, " is emotion recollected in tranquility." The scientist 

 always regards emotion as a disturbing factor. It prevents his seeing 

 objects as they are. Emotion interferes with clearness of vision and 

 distinctness of mental apprehension. It is wont to endow objects with 

 qualities which they do not possess. There is a vast difference between 

 a slight possession and a deep-seated and ineradicable prejudice; but 

 every step from one toward the other, no matter how short, is a move- 

 ment away from the truth. Most men are more emotional in early life 

 than in later years because experience and reflection enable, and often 

 constrain them, to see persons and things more nearly as they are. An 

 emotional state of mind in its intenser form is usually called enthusi- 

 asm. Carlyle employs a semi-German word, Swarmery, as being more 

 expressive. Under the influence of strong emotion almost every person 

 becomes an enthusiast. But it is only men of genius who can produce 

 this mental condition at will. Few persons can remain in the emotional 

 state of mind for a long time because the commonplace affairs of the 

 world demand frequent returns to the normal state. On the other hand, 

 there are persons whose hopes and anticipations so persistently deceive 

 them as to unfit them for the stern realities of this world. It is difficult 

 even for genius to deal with conditions objectively, to envisage phenom- 

 ena with the clear apprehension that its own personality is a disturbing 

 factor. In persons endowed with a literary mentality there is developed 

 the style of an author, that is, his individual mode of presenting his 

 thoughts to the reader. Every author of note exhibits this characteristic. 

 Hence it is generally possible for experts to divine the authorship of 



