114 COSMIC PEILOSOFIIY. [pt. u. 



bowl, then " I not only contemplate the affection as an affec- 

 tion of myself — as a state through which my consciousness 

 is passing or has passed — but I also contemplate it as exist- 

 ing in a certain part of my body — as standing in certain 

 I'elations of position. I perceive where it is." The close 

 relationship between sensation and perception is illustrated 

 by this example : nevertlieless psychology here distinguishes 

 between two portions of the mental act. Though in the 

 practical experience there is no separation between the 

 two, yet analysis enables us to distinguish between the con- 

 sciousness of the painful feeling and the consciousness of 

 the presence of the heated object which causes the feeling ; 

 and the former of these we call sensation, while the latter 

 we call perception. 



We shall now be greatly assisted by observing a psycholo- 

 gical fact of which Sir William Hamilton caught a glimpse, 

 though, as usual, his analysis was not sufficiently thorough, 

 and his statement of the case was inaccurate. We need not 

 pause to criticize the theorem that wliile "perception proper 

 and sensation proper exist only as they coexist, in the de- 

 gree or intensity of their existence they are always found in 

 an inverse ratio to each other ; " for its inaccuracy has been 

 fully demonstrated by Mr. Mill and also by Mr. Spencer, 

 who shows the true statement to be, " not that sensation and 

 perception vary inversely, but tliat they exclude each other 

 with degrees of stringency which vary inversely." To illus- 

 trate this, we will suppose that you are getting water from 

 a hot-water faucet, and that, as the water begins by running 

 cold, you clasp your hand about the faucet so as to turn it 

 off Avhen the water has become sufficiently warm. While 

 the water is cool or tepid, sensation is at the minimum, and 

 not only is there no exclusion of perception, but conscious- 

 ness is occupied with the outer phenomena, the faucet and 

 the running water, more than with the inner phenomenon, 

 the feeling of temperature. The pointed end of the upright 



