It is plain, therefore, that _perception and idea are not always so rich and complicated as we have described them_; we spoke, for that very reason, of the ‘typical’ perception and idea. They range, according to their age and use, from the cluster of nuclear processes surrounded by a group of contextual associates, all under the guidance of a directive nerve-force, down to a mere rag and tag of sensory or imaginal process, wholly bare of associates, and dependent for its meaning upon some habitual nervous set. § 27. =The Types of Perception.=—Our perceptions are based upon three of the attributes or aspects of sensation: upon quality, upon duration, and upon extension (p. 66). The =quality= of sensation has already been discussed. We may take, as instances of qualitative perception, the taste of coffee, the resistance of a jammed door, and the note of a musical instrument. The _taste of coffee_ analyses into sensations of bitter, the real taste of the coffee-berry; of warmth; of pressure, the feel of the liquid in the mouth; and of a peculiar fragrance, the odour of coffee. Along with these goes a colour, the clear or clouded brown of the coffee in the cup, and various other contextual processes. The _resistance_ analyses into the qualities of pressure from the skin; of strain from the tendons of the arm; and of pressure, or something akin to pressure, from the binding of the joints and the contraction of the muscles. There is probably some organic stir; there is the sight of the door; and there may be a further context. The _musical note_ analyses into fundamental tone and overtones, and into the noise characteristic of the instrument; the thud of the piano, the scrape of the violin, the pluck of the harp. The supplement is perhaps visual; but here, as in the other cases, verbal ideas may enter into the context; we may think ‘Violin, of course,’ All our qualitative perceptions are of this kind; they come to us as meaningful wholes, and they may be analysed into a number of sensory qualities, run or fused or blended together, and set in various contexts of associated processes.