CHAP. XII.] AND PERCEPTION. 177 



double present impression, as by the blending of this 

 with more or less fully revived memories of other impres- 

 sions which have at various times been associated with 

 the same object. Truly enough, as Bain says : " When 

 we see, hear, touch, or move, what comes before us is 

 really contributed more by the mind itself than by the 

 present object." 



Different Perceptions, as the reader will easily under- 

 stand, vary immensely in the complexity of their contents. 

 This quality is always strictly dependent upon the wealth 

 of antecedent experiences in relation to any object present 

 to sense, both in the individual itself and in the race 

 from which it has been derived. The natural simpli- 

 city or complexity of the object perceived is also, of 

 course, of great importance. The possible impressions 

 comprised in the perception of a bar of ( iron ' are 

 naturally few in comparison with those which may be 

 included under the perception of a ' house.' Still, the 

 same object may in different men excite perceptions of 

 quite a different nature. A savage who has never seen 

 gunpowder before would, for instance, have a set of 

 notions called up by the sight of it, which would not at 

 all correspond with those of an educated European who 

 well knew its composition and properties. To the one it 

 would appear as a black powder, and he would perceive ifc 

 more or less simply as such. The perception of the same 

 substance by the European, however, would be much 

 more complex, containing more or less fully revived ideas 

 as to its nature, together with half-nascent memories of 

 the various kinds of effects which it is capable of pro- 

 ducing by explosion. 



A nemo-physiological interpretation of Perception will 

 here serve more fully to elucidate this important process, 

 and show its harmony with what has previously been 



N 



