If, then, we bring a witness, who in our court house recollects nothing,
in locum rei sitae, all the mentioned conditions act favorably.[221]
The most influential is the sense of location itself, inasmuch as every
point at which something significant occurred not only is the content of
an association, but is also the occasion of one. It is, moreover, to be
remembered that reproduction is a difficult task, and that all
unnecessary additional difficulties which are permitted to accrue,
definitely hinder it. Here, too, there is only a definite number of
units of psychical energy for use, and the number which must be used for
other matters is lost to the principal task. If, e.g., I recall an event
which had occurred near the window of a definite house, I should have
considerable difficulty to recall the form of the house, the location of
the window, its appearance, etc., and by the time this attempt has
barely begun to succeed, I have made so much effort that there is not
sufficient power left for the recollection of the event we are really
concerned with. Moreover, a mistake in the recollection of extraneous
objects and the false associations thereby caused, may be very
disturbing to the correctness of the memory of the chief thing. If,
however, I am on the spot, if I can see everything that I had seen at
the time in question, all these difficulties are disposed of.
We have still to count in the other conditions mentioned above. If
acoustic effects can appear anywhere, they can appear in the locality
where they first occurred. The same bell ringing, or a similar noise,
may occur accidentally, the murmur of the brook is the same, the rustle
of the wind, determined by local topography, vegetation, especially by
trees, again by buildings, varies with the place. And even if only a
fine ear can indicate what the difference consists of, every normal
individual senses that difference unconsciously. Even the “universal
noise,” which is to be found everywhere, will be differentiated and
characteristic according to locality, and that, together with all these
other things, is extraordinarily favorable to the association of ideas
and the reproduction of the past. Colors and forms are the same, similar
orders may occur, and possibly the same attitudes are awakened, since
these depend in so great degree upon external conditions. Now, once
these with their retrospective tendencies are given, the recollection of
any contemporary event increases, as one might say, spontaneously.
Whatever may especially occur to aid the memory of an event, occurs best
at the place where the event itself happened, and hence, one can not too
insistently advise the examination of witnesses, in important cases,
only in loco rei sitae. Incidentally, the judge himself learns the real
situation and saves himself, thereby, much time and effort, for he is
enabled in a few words to render the circumstantial descriptions which
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