326 PSYOllOLOGY. 



of oue kind of objection that I must conclude by quoting a 

 part of his own words : 

 First, the objection : 



"The fact is indubitable that one's own children always pass for 

 the prettiest and brightest, the wine from one's own cellar for the best 

 — at least for its price, — one's own house and horses for the finest. 

 With what tender admiration do we con over our own little deed of 

 Denevolence ! our own frailties and misdemeanors, how ready we are to 

 acquit oursels'es for them, when we notice them at all, on the ground of 

 * extenuating circumstances ' ! How much more really comic are our 

 own jokes than those of others, which, unlike ours, will not bear being 

 repeated ten or twelve times over ! How eloquent, striking, powerful, 

 our own speeches are ! How appropriate our own address I In short, 

 how much more intelligent, soulful, better, is everything about us than 

 in anyone else. The sad chapter of artists' and authors' conceit and 

 vanity belongs here. 



"The prevalence of this obvious preference which we feel for every- 

 thingof our own is indeed striking. Does it not look as if our dear Ego 

 must first lend its color and flavor to anything in order to make it please 

 us ? ... Is it not the simplest explanation for all these phenomena, so 

 consistent among themselves, to suppose that the Ego, the self, which 

 forms the origin and centre of our thinking life, is at the same time the 

 original and central object of our life of feeling, and the ground both 

 of whatever special ideas and of whatever special feelings ensue ?" 



Herr Horwdcz goes on to refer to what w^e have already 

 noticed, that various things which disgust us in others do 

 not disgust us at all in ourselves. 



"To most of us even the bodily warmth of another, for example the 

 chair warm from another's sitting, is felt unpleasantly, whereas there 

 is nothing disagreeable in the warmth of the chair in which we have 

 been sitting ourselves." 



After some further remarks, he replies to these facts 

 and reasonings as folloAvs : 



"We may with confidence affirm that our own possessions in most 

 cases please us better [not Vjecause they are ours], but simply because we 

 know them better, ' realize ' them more intimately, feel them more 

 deeply. We learn to appreciate what is ours in all its details and shad- 

 ings, whilst the goods of others appear to us in coarse outlines and rude 

 averages. Here are some examples: A piece of music which one plays 

 one's self is heard and understood better than wiien it is played by an- 

 other. We get more exactly all the details, penetrate more deeply into 

 the musical thought. We may meanwhile perceive perfectly well that 

 the other person is the better performer, and yet nevertheless — at times 

 — get more enjoyment from our own playing because it brings the 



