Anicriraii Jluseuni of Natural History 



CRO-MAGNON ARTISTS PAINTING THE WOOLLY MAMMOTH 



Men living perhaps twenty thousand years ago left hundreds of paintings, clay fig- 

 ures, scratchings on walls, carvings in stone, etchings and carvings in horn. These 

 records show that early man was able to imagine, to abstract, and to think 



the solemn ceremony of fire-making. In the history of primitive peoples 

 every good idea seems to have been preserved by means of ceremonial as 

 well as by strict rules. In time, the race has managed to gather up a great 

 deal of wisdom — as well as a great deal of what seems to us to be foolish 

 or superstitious. 



Imagining and Abstracting We can shut our eyes and call to mind a 

 picture of something that we have once seen. We can recall particular 

 scenes or particular pieces out of past experiences. These imagined frag- 

 ments are not always selected. Something may "flash into the mind" un- 

 expectedly. Perhaps something now present "reminds" us. This ability to 

 imagine — to recall and reconstruct bits of past experience — is of tremendous 

 importance, for our imagination enables us to use past experiences in deal- 

 ing with new problems. 



We can shut our eyes and see green grass, even when there is no green 

 grass around. We can then think of greeti apart from the idea of grass. We 

 can think of the sweetness of a fruit apart from the idea of the fruit, or 

 apart from the color or the shape. In imagination, we detach the "quali- 

 ties" of things that we have experienced from the things themselves; we 

 abstract — that is, draw away from. Our thinking consists largely of such 

 abstracting. We analyze our experiences or take them apart in imagination, 



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