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accounts for the set of facts he has observed. Such a working 
hypothesis is strictly a matter of belief; it is the sum total of 
a mass of judgments, and this is the very essence of belief. 
Belief then may be defined as the generalised opinion formed 
from our own observations of reality, from information received 
at second-hand, with our judgments and interpretations thereon. 
Thus an Astronomer taking into account all known facts about 
the Planet Mars may come to the conclusion that it is inhabited— 
such a conclusion is of the nature of a belief. 
Belief has been defined as imperfect knowledge, or knowledge 
tinged with uncertainty, but yet with so small an amount as to 
leave us with a conclusion upon which we are prepared to act. 
Professor Bain says ‘‘ The relation of belief to activity is expressed 
by suying that what we believe we act on.” Professor Stout 
says ‘ Itis a condition of activity (we., of mind), and conditioned 
by activity.” The level of belief is reached when one is prepared 
to act upon that which is believed. 
Our subject this evening is the relation of belief to the per- 
ception of objects real or imaginary, that is, belief as a compelling 
force in the estimation and interpretation of objective and 
subjective sensations. There are two factors which co-operate in 
the formation of belief—one, the subjective, the kind of process 
going on in the mind of the believer, with which we have 
already dealt—the other is the objective or external factor. 
Nothing so powerfully compels belief as objective evidence. 
The law of association is also a powerful factor in the 
establishment of belief, and supplies the explanation of many a 
weird and fantastic custom of bygone days. Let two things 
become associated in the mind, and it follows almost conclusively 
that the beliefs affecting the one will cluster around the other. 
If, in a fit of anger, we trample upon a man’s portrait, it is diffi- 
cult for the moment to avoid believing that we are doing the 
man a direct injury. The savage has a real and permanent 
belief that men can be injured in such ways. He thinks, for 
instance, that by destroying a man’s footprints he can spoil his 
journey or make him lame. So the Chinaman believes that by 
hanging up in his house ancient coins he secures for himself the 
protective influence of the spirits of the Emperors under whom 
the coins were issued. We at once recognise the common witch- 
custom of making a wax figure of some person who has incurred 
the dipleasure of the witch, and then proceeding to stick pins 
into it, or otherwise maltreat it, in the hope that similar pain 
will be inflicted upon the person thus caricatured. 
Something seen not as it is, but as it is believed to be. This 
is what Psychologists call an illusion, 2e., something is seen or 
