io8 MEMORY, HABIT, AND IMITATION 



the more imaginative will be his recollections. It is 

 mainly in the equipment of emotional interests 

 that lies the difference between the intelligent and 

 the stupid man. 



An emotional impulse may not only deflect the 

 course of the memory stream, but may set up a 

 vortex in it which constantly brings the same set 

 of images before the consciousness. A lover's 

 thoughts can hardly stray from his mistress, and 

 the conversation of men who are given up to 

 racing or golf shows how little is presented to their 

 minds that is unconnected with their passion. 

 The eddy may grow into a whirlpool that engulfs 

 the memory stream altogether, but seizes hold 

 of a few recollections that are circulated incessantly 

 before the sufferer's attention. This is madness. 



By investing an impression or a recollection 

 with an emotional interest, we endow it, so to 

 speak, with a magnetic attraction for other im- 

 pressions and recollections that have been touched 

 by the same emotion. Recollections that are so 

 connected tend to fly towards one another if the 

 regular subconscious course of the memory-stream 

 be disturbed by an emotion or an effort of will. 

 The fruit of these attractions is the faculty of 

 Imagination, which is one of the most sentimental 

 and most practical attributes of mental life. We 

 think of it as a creative faculty, and so it may be 

 regarded from one point of view. Yet, strictly 

 speaking, it can create nothing, and is absolutely 

 dependent upon the memory for the material with 

 which it builds up its fabrics, whether they be 

 artistic, mathematical, or castles in Spain. But 

 our memory can supply us abundantly with 

 materials that may be fashioned, combined, and 



