204 Natural Salvation. 



opinions and intellectual growth. There is assimilation 

 of the collected data as well as mere accumulation ; 

 growth of the garner itself into an organic sentient whole, 

 its substance being arranged, moulded, or impressed in 

 such a degree, that a recent writer has not hesitated to 

 define the " soul " as " the form of the organism." 



It is a well-known fact, moreover, that the frequent 

 repetition of the same impressions, as of sensory expe- 

 riences, scenes, and sounds, has a marked tendency to dull 

 our sensibility to them. Equally well observed, too, is 

 the loss and confusion of memory in advancing life. 



Hence, the inference that the constant repetition of im- 

 pressions and the continuous bepicturing of the brain sub- 

 stance with mnemonic imagery has its natural, physical 

 limits which cannot be long outrun without utter confu- 

 sion and blurring of the material medium, as when one 

 picture ' is printed upon and over another. And the 

 conclusion derived, touching long life, has been that a 

 lifetime greatly exceeding seventy-five years must, of 

 necessity, result in mental dullness and confusion of 

 thought. 



Thomas Parr, however, at the age of one hundred and 

 fifty-two, is alleged to have been " bright " and normal as 



t 



to "all his faculties." Henry Jenkins, of Yorkshire, 

 England, " distinctly remembered " the battle of Flodden 

 Field, fought one hundred and fifty-seven years previously. 

 Robert Evans, of Spitalfields, "clearly recollected" the 



