Devolution 123 



sudden plunge into dissipation of an over- 

 worked man may, by creating strong emo- 

 tions, also effect cures. 1 



A shock acts more quickly than thought, 

 and when the physical change is made, the 

 return of normal conditions does not restore 

 the original state. We often speak of those 

 breaks as a change in the current of thought 

 and imagine this to be an explanation, as 

 though a current of thought had no physical 

 background. Ideas, however, act through 

 structure which must change in order to 

 permit a change in the current of thought. 

 There must be a devolution of structure to 



1 An incident which occurred while I was writing this essay 

 well illustrates emotional effects. I was taking a walk in the 

 depressed mood which is the natural result of melancholy and 

 the discouragement and isolation belonging to it. Happening to 

 look up, I saw above the tree tops in large and vivid letters the 

 word " love." A man must be constituted differently from me 

 not to be strongly moved by the sudden shock of the sight. It 

 seemed an unaccountable event, and yet, the cause was simple 

 enough. I was approaching a hotel on the top of which the 

 landlord had put a sign. The trees had grown from the side I 

 was approaching in such a manner that they hid everything but 

 those four letters of one of the words of the sign. To recognize 

 this took but an instant, but in that instant a change was wrought 

 which cured my melancholy. 



