THE COMPOSITION OF MIND 



maxima and minima are still perceived. In the 

 deepest bass notes of an organ, for example, 

 the pulsations are clearly distinguishable — a 

 fact which proves that we are conscious of the 

 effects answering respectively to the protuber- 

 ances and to the hollows of the waves. Now, 

 the pitch of a tone depends upon the rapidity 

 with which the waves succeed each other, and, 

 therefore) upon their length, or the distance 

 between two successive hollows, because as the 

 waves come faster they grow shorter. The 

 shorter the waves, the higher the pitch. Hence, 

 as the pitch rises, the protuberance of any 

 wave approaches nearer and nearer to the pro- 

 tuberances of the waves immediately behind it 

 and in front of it, and the maximum intensities 

 of sound which answer to the protuberances be- 

 come crowded together in consciousness. The 

 result is that, after a while, the maxima and 

 minima are no longer distinguishable by the 

 ear, so that by no effort of attention can we dis- 

 cern the elementary pulses of which the tone is 

 composed. The tone asserts itself to be com- 

 pletely homogeneous. All that mere introspec- 

 tion could discover in consciousness would be 

 an apparently simple sensation of musical tone. 

 Yet into the composition of this sensation there 

 enter a thousand or several thousand psychical 

 states, answering to the presence of as many ele- 

 mentary sounds with their maxima and minima 

 i8i 



