THE CEREBRUM, AND ITS FUNCTIONS. 795 



mena just described as occurring in abnormal states are in no respect contrary 

 to our knowledge of the conditions under which the Will operates in producing 

 muscular movement ; but afford, when rightly interpreted, a strong confirmation 

 of the statements already made respecting the nature of those conditions. 



823. The Will is exerted, however, not merely in determining the actions 

 of the body, but also in regulating the operations of the Mind ; and here again 

 we find that its action is limited by certain conditions, the knowledge of which 

 is of great importance. It may be said, generally, that we have no direct power 

 of calling before our consciousness, by a volitional effort, ideas which are not 

 already present there ; thus, in the act of Recollection, we can do no more than fix 

 our minds upon those ideas which seem most likely to recall, by an act of sugges- 

 tion, the one which we desiderate ( 813). But what we do possess, is the power 

 of excluding some ideas, and of bringing others prominently before our mental 

 vision ; and this by the power of Voluntary Attention, which is the chief if not 

 the sole means by which the sequence of our thoughts is directed by the Will. 

 It has been already pointed out that the Attention may be involuntarily fixed 

 upon certain subjects of consciousness, through the attraction they exert upon 

 the individual mind, in virtue either of its original constitution or of its ac- 

 quired habitudes ; it being this attraction which determines the automatic action 

 of our faculties ( 811). When most strongly exerted, it causes the conscious- 

 ness to be so completely engrossed by one train of ideas, that the mind is, for 

 the time, incapable of any other ideational change : sensory impressions, if felt 

 not being perceived ; and, where the consciousness is most completely concen- 

 trated upon the internal operations, the individual being as insensible to external 

 impressions as if he were in a profound sleep. But these automatic tendencies 

 of the mind may be to a certain extent antagonized by the Will, which keeps 

 them in check (just as it restrains many of the automatic impulses to bodily 

 movement) by the special power which it exerts over the Attention. This it 

 can detach from subjects which have at the time the greatest attractive- 

 ness to it, and can forcibly direct it to others from which the former would 

 otherwise divert it. And in its most complete and powerful exercise (which is not 

 within the capacity of every one), it can so completely limit the mind to one 

 train of thought, that the state of Abstraction induced by the Will may be as 

 complete as that which in some individuals is of spontaneous occurrence. In 

 proportion as we are able thus to concentrate our attention on the subject pro- 

 per to the time, and to exclude all distracting considerations whilst pursuing 

 the trains of thought which the contemplation of it suggests, will be our power 

 of advantageously employing our Intellectual Faculties in the acquirement of 

 knowledge and in the pursuit of truth; and all men who have been distin- 

 guished by their intellectual achievements have possessed this faculty in a 

 considerable degree. It is one which is "eminently capable of cultivation 

 by steady intention of mind and habitual exercise " and the more frequently it 

 is put in practice, the easier the exercise becomes. In fact, when a man has 

 once brought his Intellectual faculties under the mastery of his Will, to such an 

 extent as to induce the state of Abstraction whenever he pleases, this state be- 

 comes (as it were) "secondarily automatic;" and the fixed direction of the 

 thoughts, which at first required a constant volitional effort for its maintenance, 

 comes to be continued without any consciousness of exertion, so long as the 

 Will may permit. We have, in our own consciousness of effort, and in our 



communicated to him by a friend. This gentleman relates that having been accustomed 

 in his boyhood to play at bagatelle with other juniors of his family, the party was occa- 

 sionally joined by a relative who was noted for her success at the game, and who was 

 consequently much dreaded as an opponent; and that, on one occasion, when she was 

 about to take her turn against him, he roguishly exclaimed, "Now, aunty, you will not 

 be able to make a hit;" the eifect of which suggestion was that she missed every stroke 

 and not only at that turn, but through the remainder of the evening. 



