yg a Sey Ppa a ig rtd rae RS Mane ae N 
1885.] The Relations of Mind and Matter. 1067 
mind as it existed at the time of reception of thatimage. It is as 
if, as above said, the mental organism at each period presented a 
clear surface for the photographing of impressions, which was 
immediately covered by a new-formed surface. In this view the 
mind seems to present itself as an unlimited series of overlapping 
Jaminz, on each of which is photographed the thoughts and 
events of one period of life, while the touching of any special 
lamina by consciousness calls up to the mental vision all the 
contiguous impressions on that lamina. And the fixed hereditary 
constitution of the mind may be a deep-laid foundation, overlaid 
by these succeeding formations and far beneath the reach of 
consciousness, yet exercising a vigorous influence over the later 
developmental processes of the-organism. Another point neces- 
sary to mention is that physical impressions and mental concep- 
tions appear to affect the mind in the same manner, so that it 
becomes sometimes difficult to distinguish between a sensation, a 
memory or an idea. In states of hallucination no line of demar- 
kation remains, and at any time the principal distinction seems 
that of vividness. The mind apparently retains its images in but 
a single mode. ; 
The relation of similarity adds another structural feature to this 
conception of the mind. If we see a fine view to-day it may call 
up to our mental vision a somewhat similar one seen ten or 
twenty years ago. We have reason to believe that identical im- 
pressions flow together and strengthen their resultant, until the 
mind may very feebly respond to an incessant repetition of the 
same image. The motor conditions of the mind are so in har- 
mony with the sensation that it produces a hardly appreciable 
disturbance. This would indicate that identical impressions affect 
a fixed locality in the mental organism, and the same may be the 
case, in a less exact degree, with all similar impressions. In such 
a case the relation would not be one of surface contiguity, but of 
vertical contiguity, the localized impression being in close rela- 
tion of position to all similar ones lying below it in the depths of 
the organism. All this, of course, is pure hypothesis, yet it is of 
interest in connection with the phenomena of the association of 
ideas, if we consider the mental conditions to be the organizing 
relations of a substantial organism. Yet one further resultant of 
this analogical conception of the mind may not be amiss. The 
sinking of an impression below the sensitive surface of the mind 
