IMAGINATION. 63 



has given a very careful analj'sis of "his own case in a 

 couple of monographs with which all students should be^ 

 come familiar.* His recollections both of his own move- 

 ments and of those of other things are accompanied 

 invariably by distinct muscular feelings in those parts of 

 his body which would naturally be used in effecting or in 

 following the movement. In thinking of a soldier march- 

 ing, for example, it is as if he were helping the image to 

 march by marching himself in his rear. And if he sup- 

 presses this sympathetic feeling in his own legs, and con- 

 centrates all his attention on the imagined soldier, the latter 

 becomes, as it were, paralyzed. In general his imagined 

 movements, of whatsoever objects, seem paralyzed the 

 moment no feelings of movement either in his own eyes or 

 in his own limbs accompany them.f The movements of 

 articulate speech play a predominant part in his mental 

 life. 



"When after my experimental work I proceed to its description, 

 as a rule I reproduce in the first instance only words, which I had 

 already associated with the perception of the various details of the ob- 

 servation whilst the latter was going on. For speech plays in all my 

 observing so Important a part that I ordinarily clothe phenomena in 

 words as fast as I observe them. " X 



Most persons, on being asked in ivhat sort of terms they 

 imagine ivords, will say ' in terms of hearing.' It is not until 

 their attention is exjDressly drawn to the point that they 

 find it difficult to say whether auditory images or motor 

 images connected with the organs of articulation predomi- 

 nate. A good way of bringing the difficulty to consciousness 

 is that proposed by Strieker : Partly open your mouth and 

 then imagine any word with labials or dentals in it, such as 

 * bubble,' ' toddle.' Is your image under these conditions 

 distinct ? To most people the image is at first ' thick,' as 

 the sound of the word would be if they tried to pronounce 

 it with the lips parted. Many can never imagine the words 



* Studien tlber die Sprachvorstellungen (1880), and Studien ilber die 

 Bewegungsvorstellungen (1882). 



\ Prof. Strieker admits that by practice he has succeeded in makiug 

 his eye-movements 'act vicariously' for his leg- movements in imaginiug 

 men walking. 



X Bewegungsvorstellungen, p. 6. 



