568 PSYCHOLOOY. 



charge into either of a hxrge number ot other words with 

 which they have been at different times combined. But 

 when the j^rocesses of ' /, the heir of all the ages,' simul- 

 taneously vibrate in the brain, the last one of them in a 

 maximal, the others in a fading phase of excitement ; then 

 the strongest line of discharge will be that which they all 

 alike tend to take. ' In ' and not ' one ' or any other word 

 will be the next to awaken, for its brain-]3rocess has previ- 

 ously vibrated in unison not only with that of ages, but with 

 that of all those other Avords whose activity is dying away. 

 It is a good case of the effectiveness over thought of what 

 we called on p. 258 a ' fringe.' 



But if some one of these preceding words — 'heir,' for 

 example — had an intensely strong association with some 

 brain-tracts entirely disjoined in experience from the poem 

 of ' Locksley Hall ' — if the reciter, for instance, were tremu- 

 lously awaiting the opening of a will which might make 

 him a millionaire — it is probable that the jDath of discharge 

 through the words of the poem would be suddenly inter- 

 rupted at the word ' heir.' His emotional interest in that 

 word would be such that its own special associations ivould 

 fyrevail over the combined ones of the other words. He 

 would, as we say, be abruj^tly reminded of his personal 

 situation, and the poem would laj)se altogether from his 

 thoughts. 



The writer of these pages has every year to learn the 

 names of a large number of students who sit in alphabeti- 

 cal order in a lecture-room. He finallj- learns to call them 

 by name, as they sit in their accustomed places. On meet- 

 ing one in the street, however, early in the year, the face 

 hardly ever recalls the name, but it may recall the place of 

 its owner in the lecture-room, his neighbors' faces, and con- 

 sequently his general alphabetical position ; and then, 

 usually as the common associate of all these combined 

 data, the student's name surges up in his mind. 



A father wishes to show to some guests the progress of 

 his rather dull child in Kindergarten instruction. Holding 

 the knife upright on the table, he says, " What do you call 

 that, my boy ?" " I calls it a knife, I does," is the sturdy re- 

 ply, from which the child cannot be induced to swerve by 



