38 WHY WE FORGET. 



often do, think ourselves out of thought and the 

 power of thinking, is a very important matter, and 

 one which shows, perhaps more strikingly than any 

 other, the value and necessity of observation, not 

 only for making us ready and successful in action, 

 but for making us ready and profound in thought. 

 It is therefore worthy of a little consideration ; and 

 it is the more so that it is not much, if at all, noticed 

 in the common books, which profess to school us in 

 the most useful of all arts the art of making the 

 best use of our faculties. 



Why do we lose the memory of our thoughts in 

 sleep 1 The common answer is, " Because we are 

 asleep ;" but though in most instances that satisfies 

 us, it does not satisfy the question. It is an identical 

 proposition, the two parts of which have the same 

 meaning, though the words are different ; and such 

 propositions give us no knowledge, though they de- 

 ceive us with the appearance of it. If the question 

 were, '* How does a man get on his journey by walk- 

 ing ?" and the answer were, " Just because he walks," 

 that would be just as much (that is, as little) to the 

 purpose as the former. 



But w r hen we consider that we lose the memory 

 of our thoughts when we are awake, not only occa- 

 sionally, but (perhaps in all men) more frequently 

 than we retain it ; and that we can pass through the 

 day-dream of revery into a state of as utter forget- 

 fulness both of sensation and of thought, while we 

 are to appearance wide awake and walking on our 

 feet, as when we are in the most profound and un- 

 broken sleep ; we cannot believe that sleep is the 

 cause of forgetfulness. Sleep-walking is so very 

 like profound revery during a day- walk, that one can 

 hardly tell the one from the other. Indeed the rev- 

 ery may be the more " oblivious" state of the two ; 

 because in it the motions of the limbs are purposeless, 

 and the " absent man," as we not improperly call 

 him, falls into ditches, and runs his head against 



