1901.] on Memory. 609 



physical memories. The more complete the structural memory, the 

 more faithful is the conscious memory. The more vigorous the active 

 memory the more vivid the conscious memory. But this parallelism 

 exists only so far as we have traced it. It exists only for the first 

 reproduction of tho experience. With every subsequent recurrence 

 of the active memory, the structural memory becomes more complete 

 and enduring, and as the structural memory becomes more completely 

 organised, so does the active memory become more easily evoked and 

 more vigorous. But precisely in proportion as the active memory 

 thus improves, in that same proportion does the conscious memory 

 weaken and fade. It is the movements that are most habitual that 

 are performed with least consciousness ; it is in the places with which 

 we are most familiar that we find our way with the least thought ; it 

 is the form of words that is most often in our mouths that is uttered 

 with the least sense of its meaning ; it is the scenery to which we are 

 most accustomed that arouses the smallest interest. The more com- 

 plete and consolidated and organised the structure, the more facile 

 and certain and readily provoked the function, the less of conscious 

 memory there is ; and when structure becomes complete, and function 

 perfect, conscious memory altogether disappears. 



By thus distinguishing clearly between the several conditions to 

 which the term memory has been applied, we are able to clear up 

 some of the difficulties which perplexed our predecessors. One of the 

 most puzzling problems with which the philosophers of a past gene- 

 ration had to deal was, What becomes of a memory when it is not 

 actually being remembered ? " We are conscious," says Sir W. 

 Hamilton, " of certain cognitions as acquired, and we are conscious 

 of these cognitions as resuscitated. That in the interval, when out 

 of consciousness, they do continue to subsist in the mind, is an 

 hypothesis, because whatever is out of consciousness can only be 

 assumed, . . . but if it cannot be denied that the knowledge we have 

 acquired . . . does actually continue, though out of consciousness, 

 to endure, can we in the second place find any ground on which to 

 explain the possibility of this endurance ? " " The solution of this 

 problem," he says in another place, " is to be sought in the theory of 

 obscure or latent modifications (that is, mental activities, real, but 

 beyond the sphere of consciousness)." Thus Sir W. Hamilton satisfies 

 himself by an explanation that is purely verbal, and has no meaning 

 whatever jehind it ; that is, indeed, as Mill pointed out, a contradic- 

 tion in terms. To us the problem presents no difficulty. It is, in 

 fact, wrongly stated. It rests upon a confusion about the facts. It 

 is much the same as asking what has become of the colour of the sky 

 at midnight ? where does the motion of the engine reside when the 

 steam is cut off? where does the light of the candle go to when the 

 flame is blown out ? where is the clangour of the bell stored away 

 before the bell is rung ? As we should explain it, conscious me- 

 mories do not exist except in the process of revival, any more than 

 the sound of the bell exists except when it is ringing; any more 



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