SYMBOLIC RECOLLECTIONS in 



original passions. But if summoned indirectly, by 

 the imagining of the impressions which originally 

 evoked them, they may affect us as powerfully as 

 when they first arose. We owe to imagination 

 hope and despair two of the strongest emotions 

 of mankind. The one is the vision of satisfied, 

 the other of unsatisfied impulses. 







Such are, so to speak, the dynamics of memory. 

 But it must also be considered as a static force 

 not as a stream but as a store-house of recollec- 

 tions. These, when assorted and, so to speak, 

 indexed by consciousness, constitute knowledge 

 a fund from which disbursements may be made at 

 the call of the will. Recollections may be direct 

 simple repetitions of former sensory impressions 

 or symbolic: we may have direct recollections of 

 St. Petersburg, presenting the place to us as we 

 have seen it ; or we may have recollections of 

 words, or symbols, describing the city, which, so 

 to speak, construct views of it by calling up 

 certain direct recollections (of rivers, streets, and 

 so on) which originally had no connection with 

 St. Petersburg, but are reasserted and recom- 

 bined in the process. 



Direct recollections are clearest when they are 

 visualized, when, that is to say, the original 

 sensory impressions repeat themselves as a defi- 

 nite, detailed picture. In such a case one may be 

 able to catalogue a number of different objects 

 that have been presented only for a moment. 

 Readers of Kipling will remember Kim's en- 

 deavour to rival the jeweller's apprentice in this 

 accomplishment. Visualization can undoubtedly 

 be strengthened by practice. It is strongest in 

 children and in savages : it fades away as age 

 advances, and has been shown by investigation 

 to be at its weakest amongst men of science. 



