THE LAPSES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 495 



of a young lady upon whose table stand two similar boxes, one contain- 

 ing stamps and the other keys, and who ' absently ' tries to affix a key 

 to the letter which she has just sealed. Such disparate substitutions 

 begin to require a different formula, one that recognizes two under- 

 currents of thought and explains the confusion as the crossing-point 

 of the two slightly or markedly divergent streams. 



Subconscious Perception and Association. 



The specific lapsing of the sensory factor in conformity to the psy- 

 chologist's analysis would be revealed in the attitude of obeying, or 

 tending to obey, an impulse with complete inability to account for its 

 provenance, or with a vague haziness surrounding it, which eventually 

 dissolves under a gradually rising attention. Awareness of impulse or 

 action without awareness of the incentive thereto, sufficiently formu- 

 lates the attitude, which is objectified in finding oneself handling some- 

 thing or other with the mental query, ' What was I wanting to do ? ' 

 or, ' Why was I doing this ? ' The principle is important and finds 

 application in pronounced and abnormal manifestations of conscious- 

 ness, as well as in ordinary deviations. Illustrations thereof are some- 

 what elusive; the lapses are evanescent, momentary, but significant. 

 A young man, busy with his studies, while his room-mate is away 

 paying court to the one of his choice, is suddenly seized with the 

 idea that it would be a good joke to disturb the courtship by tele- 

 phoning to his chum that a telegram was awaiting him at his room. 

 As he proceeds to the telephone, he is met by the landlady, who informs 

 him that such a telegram had actually arrived. He is utterly astounded 

 at the coincidence, but is forced to conclude that he had actually, but 

 not consciously, received, two hours before, some vague, yet subcon- 

 sciously effective indication of the arrival of a telegram for his chum. 

 Two young ladies are lolling in a hammock on a hot summer's day. 

 All energies, mental and otherwise, are relaxed. The mother of one 

 of them asks the daughter to step into the library and get a certain 

 book. The request seemingly goes unheeded ; and the languid inactivity 

 continues. Presently the daughter goes into the house, is heard fum- 

 bling among the papers and magazines on the study-table and reappears 

 with the book, saying, ' Mother, I saw your book in the library and 

 thought you might want it.' The surprise caused by the laughter that 

 greeted her remark proved her ignorance of the request upon which 

 she had acted. 



Under fortunate circumstances a considerable variety of such sub- 

 conscious perceptions may be detected; as a rule they escape observa- 

 tion, or are beset with vagueness and uncertainty. If we proceed 

 beyond the outward recognition, to the elaboration that interprets the 

 situation, to the associations which it arouses, we shall have another point 



