SECTION 5. THE MAN OF GENIUS. 35 



present themselves than they bow themselves out of existence. 

 What remains, after the sieving process, is the merest fraction 

 of that which has been perceived, or what has passed through 

 our mind. Add to this, a rapidly fading memory which progres- 

 sively obliterates most recollections of a few years' standing, and 

 plays such havoc with the residue that where there were images 

 full of colour and definiteness, the barest elusive half-shadow 

 survives, and our difficulties will be appreciated. Then there 

 is the fact that memories become frequently confused, mis- 

 leading, transmuted, and that they more often than not refuse 

 to appear when they are summoned. The Dreyfus trial in 

 France, a generation ago, afforded a striking object lesson in 

 regard to the short and erratic career of memories. 



However, it is not only that the memory is inherently an 

 imperfect instrument, but the teleological or economic factor in 

 mental life acts as a powerful disintegrating agent. Consider 

 the case of a child who has learnt to write, and study the 

 adaptations which follow as a consequence: 



When his studies commenced, he learnt that he must hold the pen in 

 a certain position if he wished to write with ease, that the arm should 

 not be placed as the reinless fancy prompted, and the like. He knew, 

 broadly speaking, why he did things and how he did them. This know- 

 ledge of the how and the why of the process was doqmed from the be- 

 ginning. Gradually losing his interest in writing as such, having no longer 

 any need to refer to that knowledge, and being eager to acquire other 

 habits, he slowly forgets the how and the why. At first there was a 

 bond of time and order : now all ties are gone. He cannot tell relationship, 

 time, or succession. Each point is recollected independently of every 

 other point. He cannot even indicate the what, though he knows what 

 to do. The what has departed as a notion, and exists as a remembered 

 act. As the child progressed there was no need to recollect the what, 

 the how, the why, or any other system of relationships, and so these are 

 forgotten. We detect here no substituted, transformed, or added con- 

 stituent, only certain once existing factors have been removed. All that 

 could be dispensed with has been cast aside. 



Again : 



If we are considerably interested in one thing, we cannot spare much 

 interest for another thing at the same time. Thus there is a constant 

 tendency for thoughts, as with animals in congested areas, to drive each 

 other out of existence. 



Suppose a man thinks that it would be best to dismiss certain im- 

 practicable thoughts immediately they occur, by turning his attention into 

 other channels. An opportunity arrives, he remembers his resolution, and 

 carries it into effect. After a period of practice the resolution is forgotten 

 or not referred to; but whenever anything impracticable suggests itself he 

 dismisses it immediately. The resolution forms now no link between the 

 objectionable thought and the act of dismissal. As that thought appears, 

 so it is thrust back. There may be, after a time, entire ignorance that 

 certain thoughts are dismissed. The man may, e.g., either deny that such 

 is the fact, or he may give some plausible, but inaccurate explanation. 1 



Imagine now this process to begin from infancy, and to be 

 carried up and on through life, afid it will be evident that human 

 thought is essentially irrational, except at a very few points 



1 G. Spiller, The Mind of Man. pp. 96, 95, 116. 



