i i il ll ll 
1886. | Anthropology. 85 
emotion. It is only in bad mental health that association fails to 
revive completely a process of intelligence. It is a consequence of 
this fact that intelligence is more cumulative in its character than 
emotion, and much more so than pleasure or pain. Could we re- 
produce in our consciousness sights, sounds and sensations as 
truly as we do thoughts, we would be different beings from what 
we are. And were they cumulative in our consciousness in the 
same sense that thoughts are, we would be still more different. 
Thus there seems to be a relation between the nature of stimuli 
and their effects on consciousness, which may perhaps be formu- 
lated as follows: The persistence of an impression on the physical 
basis of consciousness is in inverse proportion to its intensity in con- 
sciousness. Thus the most violent and least permanent of impres- 
sions are molar, as in physical sensations. The intermediate are 
those of such special senses as are supposed to be the result of ex- - 
terior vibrations. The most delicate and the permanent, are those 
produced by the supposed extremely rapid vibrations of living 
brain-tissue. These create an accustomed channel of apparently 
greater perfection of construction than do the more violent forms 
of consciousness, which are therefore longer preserved, and more 
readily followed by new arrivals of consciousness. The reason 
for this is to be found in the probable fact, which is also supported 
y other considerations, that the more violent forms of conscious- 
hess destroy more tissue, while the most delicate forms destroy 
less, rendering rearrangement more easy. 
these considerations are of course applicable only to new stim- 
uli, which are not mere repetitions of old ones, and are especially 
not applicable to the secondary stimulus furnished by reminis- 
cence itself, in which are to be included dreams. That the mate- 
rials of thought are often only reminiscences is no objection to 
the theory here presented; for the processes, and conclusions of 
thought are perfectly new experiences when first performed and 
attained. And the precision with which intelligent thoughts are 
reproduced is a guarantee of their persistence, since each remi- 
niscence acts in some degree as a new stimulus. This is true of 
the simplest processes of intelligence in the lowest types of mind. 
€ can derive some hints from these considerations, as to the 
oe of temporary and permanent states of consciousness.— 
- Cope. 
ANTHROPOLOGY .' 
: oe PLummets.—In the summer of 1884 Mr. H. W. Hen- 
nape Spent a portion of his vacation in Southwestern California, 
while there was enabled to gather some information from the 
yta Barbara Indians concerning the so-called stone plummets. 
hi cy have been called sinkers, plummets, sling-shots, bolas, spin- 
'ng-weights, fetishes and sorcery-stones. With reference to — 
"Edited by Prof. Oris T: Mason, National Museum, Washington, DC. — 
