ON SENSORIAL VISION. 413 



tion. Memory does not produce its effect by creating 

 before the eyes a visible picture of the object remem- 

 bered. When Hamlet says, " Methinks I see my father," 

 we all know that the expression is a purely figurative 

 one, and have no need to be told, as in his reply to 

 Horatio's " Where ? my lord," (a question perfectly 

 natural to one who had just seen his ghost and knew 

 not but that it might still be present), that it is to the 

 " mind's eye," a merely figurative and metaphorical eye, 

 and not to that of the body, that the expression applies. 

 The act of reminiscence is a conscious and a mental act, 

 and if, under the influence of powerful excitement and 

 strong associations it ever results in the production of 

 a visible picture by the sort of reflex action I have 

 described, it must precede such formation or any how 

 not be itself called up by the picture of its own creation. 

 Of such cases whenever they occur (and I have related 

 what may be considered a case in point) the same 

 account is to be given as in that of certain eminent 

 painters, who are said to have declared that they see 

 upon the paper or the canvas the forms they are about 

 to delineate a quasi-image being formed on the retina by 

 the sympathy of the nerve with the brain, and its impres- 

 sion delivered back to the sensorium as that of a reality. 

 (17.) I ought perhaps to apologize for saying so much 

 about myself and my personal experiences in this line, 

 but the nature of the subject is such as to render this 

 inevitable ; and it is one which can only be elucidated 

 by the individual putting on record his own personal 

 contribution to the stock of facts accumulating. And 



