730 OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



impression ; and we can scarcely conceive but that the actual state of the Sen- 

 sorium itself must be the same in both cases, though this state is induced in the 

 one case by an act of Mind, and in the other by Material conditions. A very 

 common modus operandi of this " constructive association'' is the realization 

 of a landscape, a figure, -or a countenance, from a pictorial representation of it. 

 Every picture must be essentially defective in some of the attributes of the ori- 

 ginal, as, for example, in the representation of the projection of objects ; and 

 all, therefore, that the picture can do is to suggest to the mind an idea, which 

 it completes for itself by this constructive process, so as to form an aggregate 

 which may or may not bear a resemblance to the original, according to the 

 fidelity of the picture, and the mode in which it acts upon the mind of the in- 

 dividual. Thus to one person a mere sketch shall convey a much more accu- 

 rate notion of the object represented, than a more finished picture shall give to 

 another; because, from practice in this kind of mental reconstruction, the for- 

 mer recognizes the true meaning of the sketch, and fills it up in his " mind's 

 eye ;" whilst the latter can see little but what is actually before his bodily 

 vision, and interprets as a literal presentation that which was intended merely 

 as a suggestion. And it is now generally admitted that in all the higher forms 

 of representative Art, the aim should be, not to call into exercise the faculty of 

 mere objective realization, but to address that higher power of idealization, 

 which invests the conception suggested by the representation with attributes 

 more exalted than those actually possessed by the original, yet not inconsistent 

 with them. It depends, however, as much on the mind of the individual ad- 

 dressed, as on that of the Artist himself, whether such conceptions shall be 

 formed ; since by those who do not possess this power, the highest work of Art 

 is only appreciated, in so far as it enables them to realize the object which it 

 may represent. 



810. Having thus pointed out what may be considered the most elementary 

 forms of Mental Action, 1 we shall briefly pass in review those more complex 

 operations, which may be regarded as in great part compounded of them. The 

 capacity for performing these is known as the Intellect or the Reasoning Power ; 

 and the capacities for those various forms of Intellectual activity, which it is 

 convenient to distinguish for the sake of making ourselves more fully acquainted 

 with them, are termed Intellectual Faculties. It appears to the author, how- 

 ever, to be a fundamental error to suppose that the entire Intellect can be split 

 up into a certain number of faculties } for each faculty that is distinguished by 

 the Psychologist, expresses nothing else than a mode of activity, in which the 

 whole power of the mind may be engaged at once just as the whole power of 

 the locomotive steam-engine may be employed in carrying it forwards or back- 

 wards, according to the direction given to its action. And if this be true, it 

 must be fundamentally erroneous to attempt to parcel out the Cerebrum into 

 distinct " organs" for these respective faculties ; the whole of it (so far as we 

 can form a judgment) being called into operation in every kind of mental 

 activity. 



811. That state in which the consciousness is actively directed to a Sensorial 

 change whether this change originate in impressions received through the ex- 

 ternal organs of sense, or in operations of the Cerebrum is termed Attention. 

 Like the other states of Mental Activity, which will come under our considera- 

 tion, it may be either voluntary or automatic ; that is, we may either " fix our 

 attention" on an object of consciousness by an effort of the Will, or the atten- 



1 In the foregoing brief exposition of the laws and leading phenomena of Mental As- 

 sociation, the author .has derived great aid from the excellent article on "The Human 

 Mind," contributed to" Messrs. Chambers's "Information for the People," by his friend Mr. 

 Alexander Bain. Though not agreeing with all the views expressed in that article, the 

 author can cordially recommend the perusal of it to his readers. 



