784 OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



which the individual cannot make the slightest effort to recall the most familiar 

 fact, especially if possessed with the conviction that such effort is impossible 

 ( 825). But supposing the mind to be in full possession of its ordinary 

 powers, and the desiderated idea to be one which does not at once recur on the 

 direction of the attention to some idea already in the mind ; we then apply the 

 same process to other ideas which successively come before our conscious- 

 ness, selecting those which we think most likely to suggest that which we 

 require, and following out one train of thought after another, in the directions 

 which we deem most probable, until we either succeed in finding the idea of 

 which we are in search, or give up the pursuit as not worth further trouble. 

 Thus a man who is making up his accounts, and finds that he has expended a 

 sum in a mode which he cannot recollect, sets himself to remember what busi- 

 ness he has done, where he has recently been, what shops he may have entered, 

 and so on. Or when a man meets another whom he recognizes as an acquaint- 

 ance without remembering his name, he runs over a number of names (one 

 being suggested by another, when the attention is given to them), in hopes that 

 some one of these may prove to be the one, which, when brought to his mind, 

 is recognized as that of the object then before his consciousness ; or he thinks 

 of the place in which he may have previously seen him, this being recalled by 

 fixing the attention on the associations suggested by the sight of his face and 

 figure, or by the sound of his voice, or by his personality altogether ; or he en- 

 deavors to retrace the time which has elapsed since he last met with him, the 

 persons amongst whom he then was, or the actions in which he was engaged ; 

 that some one or other of these various associations may suggest the deside- 

 rated name. But it is a most curious phenomenon, and one which, though 

 most men are occasionally conscious of it, has been scarcely recognized by Meta- 

 physical inquirers, that after all these expedients have been employed in vain, 

 and the attempt to bring a particular idea to the mind has been abandoned as 

 useless, it will often occur spontaneously a little while afterwards, suddenly 

 flashing (as it were) before the consciousness ; and this although the mind has 

 been engrossed in the mean time by some entirely different subject of contempla- 

 tion, and cannot detect any link of association whereby the result has been ob- 

 tained, notwithstanding that the whole train of thought which has passed 

 through the mind in the interval may be most distinctly remembered. 1 Now it 

 is difficult, if not impossible, to account for this fact upon any other supposition, 

 than that a certain train of action has been set going in the Cerebrum by the 

 voluntary exertion which we at first made; and that this train continues in 

 movement after our attention has been fixed upon some other object of thought, 

 so that it goes on to the evolution of its result, not only without any continued 

 exertion on our own parts, but also without our consciousness of any continued 

 activity. This seems to be one of the instances of what may be termed uncon- 

 scious cerebration, to which reference has been already made ( 787), and of 

 which other examples will be presently adduced ( 818, 819). But we may 

 here remark, as bearing on the same subject, as well as upon that of a preceding 

 paragraph, that it is well known that impressions to which the attention is 



1 So frequently has this occurred within the Author' experience, that he is now in the 

 habit of trusting to this method of recollection, where he has reason to feel sure that the 

 desired idea is not far off, if the mind can only find its track as when it relates to some 

 occurrence (such as a payment of money) which is known to have taken place within a 

 few days previously ; for he has found himself much more certain of recovering it, by 

 withdrawing his mind from the search when it is not speedily successful, and by giving 

 himself up to the occupation appropriate to the time, than by inducing fatigue by unsuc- 

 cessful eiforts. And this is not his own experience only, but that of many others. The 

 fact has been noticed by Dr. Holland ("Chapters on Mental Physiology," p. 66); from 

 whom he has learned that the above plan has been put into successful action by many to 

 whom he has recommended it. 



