the light of the natural history survey of analogy, these phenomena
appear in their true significance, testifying at once to the inherent
progress, despite reversions, and to the underlying unity of
constitution and purpose, through which these phenomena acquire their
deeper and more human interest.
THE MIND'S EYE
_Hamlet._ My father,--methinks, I see my father.
_Horatio._ O, where, my lord?
_Hamlet._ In my mind's eye, Horatio.
I
It is a commonplace taught from nursery to university that we see
with our eyes, hear with our ears, and feel with our fingers. This is
the truth, but not the whole truth. Indispensable as are the sense
organs in gaining an acquaintance with the world in which we live,
yet they alone do not determine how extensive or how accurate that
acquaintance shall be. There is a mind behind the eye and the ear and
the finger-tips which guides them in gathering information, and gives
value and order to the exercise of the senses. This is particularly
true of vision,--the most intellectual of all the senses, the one in
which mere acuteness of the sense organ counts least and the training
in observation counts most. The eagle's eye sees farther, but our
eyes tell us vastly more of what is seen.
The eye may be compared to a photographic camera, with its eyelid
cap, its iris shutter, its lens, and its sensitive plate,--the
retina; when properly adjusted for distance and light, the image
is formed on the retina as on the glass plate, and the picture is
taken. So far the comparison is helpful; but while the camera takes a
picture whenever and wherever the plate happens to be exposed, the
complete act of seeing requires some coöperation on the part of the
mind. The retina may be exposed a thousand times and take but few
pictures; or perhaps it is better to say that the pictures may be
taken, but remain undeveloped and evanescent. The pictures that are
developed are stacked up, like the negatives in the photographer's
shop, in the pigeon-holes of our mental storerooms,--some faded and
blurred, some poorly arranged or mislaid, some often referred to and
fresh prints made therefrom, and some quite neglected.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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