Let us now contrast with this what happens when you sit still with
your eyes shut, calling up pictures of places you have seen abroad,
and perhaps ultimately falling asleep. Dr. Watson, if I understand
him aright, maintains that either there is actual stimulation of the
retina, or your pictures are mere word-pictures, the words being
represented by small actual movements such as would, if magnified and
prolonged, lead to actual pronunciation of the words. Now if you are
in the dark with your eyes shut, there is no stimulation of the retina
from without. It may be that, by association, the eye can be affected
through stimuli to other senses; we have already had an example in the
fact that the pupil can be taught to contract at a loud noise if this
had been frequently experienced along with a bright light. We cannot,
therefore, dismiss the idea that a stimulus to one sense may, as a
result of past events, have an effect upon the organs of another sense.
“Images” might be definable as effects produced in this way. It may be
that, when you see a picture of Napoleon, there is an effect upon your
aural nerves analogous to that of having the word “Napoleon” pronounced
in your presence, and that that is why, when you see the picture, the
word “Napoleon” comes into your head. And similarly, when you shut
your eyes and call up pictures of foreign scenes, you may actually
pronounce, completely or incipiently, the word “Italy”, and this may,
through association, stimulate the optic nerve in a way more or less
similar to that in which some actual place in Italy stimulated it on
some former occasion. Thence association alone may carry you along
through a series of journeys, until at last, when you fall asleep, you
think you are actually making them at the moment. All this is quite
possible, but so far as I know there is no reason to hold that it is
more than possible, apart from an _a priori_ theory excluding every
other explanation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account