80 PSYCHOLOGY. 



change. More than this we caunot say ; we certainly 

 ought not to say what usually is said by psychologists, and 

 treat the perception as a sum of distinct psychic entities^ 

 the present sensation namely, plus a lot of images from the 

 past, all ' integrated ' together in a way impossible to de- 

 scribe. The perception is one state of mind or nothing — as 

 I have already so often said. 



In many cases it is easy to compare the psychic results 

 of the sensational with those of the perceptive process. We 

 then see a marked difference in the way in which the im- 

 pressed portions of the object are felt, in consequence of 

 being cognized along with the reproduced portion, in the 

 higher state of mind. Their sensible quality changes un- 

 der our very eye. Take the already-quoted catch. Fas de 

 lieu Rhone que nous : one may read this over and over again 

 without recognizing the sounds to be identical with those 

 of the words paddle your oivn canoe. As we seize the 

 English meaning the sound itself appears to change. 

 Verbal sounds are usually perceived with their meaning at 

 the moment of being heard. Sometimes, however, the 

 associative irradiations are inhibited for a few moments 

 (the mind being preoccupied with other thoughts) whilst 

 the words linger on the ear as mere echoes of acoustic sen- 

 sation. Then, usually, their interpretation suddenly occurs. 

 But at that moment one may often surprise a change in the 

 very feel of the word. Our own language would sound 

 very different to us if we heard it without understanding, 

 as M^e hear a foreign tongue. Rises and falls of voice, odd 

 sibilants and other consonants, would fall on our ear in a 

 way of which we can now form no notion. Frenchmen say 

 that English sounds to them like the gazouillement des oiseaux 

 — an impression which it certainly makes on no native ear. 

 Many of us English would describe the sound of Paissian 

 in similar terms. All of us are conscious of the strong in- 

 flections of voice and explosives and gutturals of German 

 speech in a way in which no German can be conscious of 

 them. 



This is probably the reason why, if we look at an isolated 

 printed word and repeat it long enough, it ends by assuming 

 an entirely unnatural aspect Let the reader try this with 



