96 THEORETICAL BIOLOGY 



something within us connects up, and we know that what we 

 have before us is famihar ; often we do not realise until 

 later who the acquaintance is. 



The schemata are called forth in us, not only by spatial 

 contours, but also by changes in time. We see a hundred 

 strangers collected together in an open place ; suddenly one 

 of them performs a movement, the rhythm of which makes a 

 special impression on us, and we know for certain that this 

 person is an acquaintance. Often, however, we remain in 

 doubt as to who exactly it is. 



From such instances it may be afhrmed with certainty, 

 that what surges up in us is not a memory-picture, but that we 

 are merely completing once more the restoration of a picture 

 within ourselves ; the German word " erinnern " reproduces 

 this very well. Sometimes we fail to restore the familiar 

 picture with certainty, and the process is abortive. This 

 gives us an anxious feeling, as though we were seeking some- 

 thing, and it lasts until the correct picture comes ; then we 

 have a sensation of relief. 



We may conclude from all this that, in order to form 

 V things, we make use, voluntarily or involuntarily, of a mental 

 process ; but of this process, although it is formed by our- 

 selves, we know nothing. The process employs local signs 

 as well as time-signs and content-signs, but depends in the 

 main on the seriation of direction-signs. Since it surges up 

 from the complete unconscious, nothing more exact can be 

 stated regarding it ; and we must agree that Kant was right 

 when he said that it is " an art hidden in the depths of the 

 human soul, the clue to which we occasionally and with 

 difficulty wrest from Nature, and shall make manifest." 



Perhaps we get nearest to the unknown process when we 

 call the schema a certain kind of " line." Line, in this sense, 

 is an expression taken from painting. Painting is very vitally 

 concerned with the nature of schemata, for every artist must 



