62 GENERAL VIEW AND BASIS OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. 



entirely the instrument of volition. Let the will be 

 determined by the conclusions of reason by deliberate 

 conclusions, and then let attention be wielded by both.' 1 



Great power of attention is indispensable to the at- 

 tainment of eminence as a scientific investigator. So 

 important is this power in original scientific research, 

 that it is considered to constitute the chief mental differ- 

 ence between the abilities of ordinary men and of the 

 most eminent discoverers. 



As ideas are the basis of all mental action, and are 

 almost infinite in number, each man must be content to 

 possess only a comparatively small proportion. As also he 

 can acquire only a few at a time, unless he is willing to be 

 the entire creature of circumstances, and to be carried 

 hither and thither by the influence of every impression, 

 he will need to select and acquire them in such an order 

 as will best promote his well-being, his self-imprrvement, 

 and the formation of his desired mental character Selec- 

 tion of ideas is performed by the intellect ; the will neither 

 selects ideas, nor determines their order, because it cannot 

 compare things. When we select ideas it is always from 

 several or many. We compare and discriminate, dis- 

 tinguish their similarities and differences, and by an act 

 of the reason infer which are the most suitable, and then 

 decide upon them by the judgment, and reject others. 

 The will then proceeds to carry them into effect by ex- 

 citing conscious mental effort for the purpose. In most 

 cases, however, the will is excited to act by the feelings, 

 without the use of the judgment, and in that case the 

 ideas are not selected at all, because the feelings are blind 

 and cannot select. It is by means of this power of selec- 

 tion of ideas that the mind can, as it were, attract or 

 repel, absorb or reject ; and by associating in our minds 

 1 Dr. Ferrier. 



