276 MYTH AND SCIENCE. 



sketch of a phantasm in human form, a general, 

 though hull-finite type of the whole figure has spon- 

 taneously arisen, to which it is made to correspond. 

 This is the key to the ultimate perception of the 

 phenomenon. What may be called the prophetic 

 type of the figure which will afterwards appear to 

 us in all its details, although it may seern to be pro- 

 duced by external resemblance, is in fact the product 

 of the rnind, which has been unconsciously exercised 

 in its construction. 



In fact, out of the immense variety in faces, and 

 in the general form of persons, of gestures, fashions 

 of dress, attitudes in rest and motion, which are in- 

 delibly impressed on the memory, every one con- 

 structs general types for himself; types which are 

 revealed in the allusions made in our daily conversa- 

 tion to the resemblances which we are continually 

 observing. These remain in the memory, with all the 

 manifold resemblances, as well as the ideal of certain 

 types in which the numerous forms we have seen 

 and compared are formulated. We know that when 

 the memory has been dormant, which is often the 

 case, it may be awakened by the stimulus of associa- 

 tion, of analogy, or of will, so as to reproduce the 

 forgotten ideas and sensations which are thus again 

 presented to the consciousness. When, therefore, one 

 or more objects are seen in an uncertain light, so as 

 to present a confused appearance of the human form, 

 its general lineaments are unconsciously made by us 



