MENTAL FUNCTION 



407 



that some of them, under various conditions of intensity or of other 

 requisites, are always risen into what we call full consciousness, and that 

 the others are meanwhile concerned in carrying on the vastly complex 

 processes of the neuro-myo-glandular mechanism of the body. These 

 former and these latter combine to constitute the "bulk" or "mass" or 

 "substance" of the mental process as physiology understands it, while 

 the sum of the latter influences alone constitute what is known as sub- 



Fio. 242 



A metaphorical cross-section' of the "stream of consciousness." The shifting, free attentive 

 consciousness of the individual may be aware of nearly anything on the earth below or in the 

 heavens above. Beneath it is the mass of varied sensation, and this below merges into sub- 

 conscious mental processes, and these in turn into the neural and general vital energies of the 

 body-protoplasm. The obstructions and personal peculiarities of the body affect markedly all 

 aspects of consciousness, as these are the structures by which the mental process is supported. 

 The dependence of the conscious stream on the integrity of the protoplasm by which it is 

 guided is peculiarly close. 



consciousness. In general terms our total consciousness during normal 

 sleep tends to be of the subconscious sort, although apparently nearly 

 always, perhaps always, blended with attentive consciousness also. We 

 have to think subconsciousness as made up, then, of "sensations" (and 

 other mental aspects) which do not at the time occupy the conscious 

 attention of the individual, and this might serve as a rude definition 

 of subconsciousness. (For the other subconscious aspects of the mental 

 process see below, under Willing and Knowing.) The description of 



