APPLICATION OF FOREGOING CHAPTERS. 47 



routine presents itself before him, and lie repeats his 

 task by rote. Surely then we are justified in suspect- 

 ing that there must have been more bond fide personal 

 recollection and experience, with more effort and failure 

 on the part of the infant itself than meet the eye. 



It should be noticed, also, that our control over 

 breathing is very limited. We can hold our breath 

 a little, or breathe a little faster for a short time, 

 but we cannot do this for long, and after having gone 

 without air for a certain time we must breathe. 



Seeing and hearing require some practice before 

 their free use is mastered, but not very much. They 

 are so far within our control that we can see more by 

 looking harder, and hear more by listening attentively 

 — but they are beyond our control in so far as that we 

 must see and hear the greater part of what presents 

 itself to us as near, and at the same time unfamiliar, 

 unless we turn away or shut our eyes, or stop our ears 

 by a mechanical process ; and when we do this it is a 

 sign that we have already involuntarily seen or heard 

 more than we wished. The familiar, whether sight or 

 sound, very commonly escapes us. 



Take again the processes of digestion, the action of 

 the heart, and the oxygenisation of the blood — pro^ 

 cesses of extreme intricacy, done almost entirely un- 

 consciously, and quite beyond the control of our 

 volition. 



Is it possible that our unconsciousness concerning < 

 our own performance of all these processes arises from • 

 over-experience ? * 



Is there anything in digestion, or the oxygenisation 



