THE CONCEPTUAL WORLD 31 



might have looked at the hands of the clock and the 

 thermometer, we should still have observed only 

 simultaneities. 



But we had to wait for the kettle to boil, and the 

 temperature ioo° was attained after the temperature 

 90°, and so on. What does this mean ? While we 

 were waiting, the water seemed to take an intolerably 

 long time to boil. But the maid was reading one of 

 Mr Charles Garvice's novels, and " before she knew 

 where she was " the kettle boiled over. There was a 

 certain interval of duration experienced by her, and 

 another, but different, interval of duration experienced 

 by us. In each case there was a stream of conscious- 

 ness. We felt fatigue, thirst, a lack of satisfaction, 

 wandering attention, and irritation — all that was our 

 duration. But the maid was identifying herself with 

 Lady Mary, who had sprained an ankle and was being 

 helped along by the new, young gamekeeper, and that 

 was her duration. 



There need not be any succession of events in the 

 conceptual representation of a physical process. There 

 is, for instance, no succession in such a conception as 

 is represented by the following diagram — a conception 

 well worth analysis : — 



Jif shock '1 SS, 4-2 



Bnd shock 



Fig. 7. 



