Part 8 (2/2)

Can I see clearly in my ”mind's eye” the whole table as it stood spread before et the snohite and gloss of the linen? The delicate coloring of the china, so that I can see where the pink shades off into the white? The graceful lines and curves of the dishes? The sheen of the silver? The brown of the toast? The yellow of the creareen of the bouquet of roses? The sparkle of the glassware?

Can I again hear the rattle of the dishes? The clink of the spoon against the cup? Theup of the chairs? The chatter of the voices, each with its own peculiar pitch and quality? The twitter of a bird outside the ? The tinkle of a distant bell? The chirp of a neighborly cricket?

Can I taste clearly the s? The bacon? The rolls? The butter? The jelly? The fruit? Can I get the appetizing odor of the coffee? Of the es and bananas? The perfume of the lilac bush outside the door? The perfume from a handkerchief newly treated to a spray of heliotrope?

Can I recall the touch of ers on the velvety peach? On the slassware? The feel of the fresh linen? The contact of leather-covered or cane-seated chair? Of the freshly donned garet clearly the temperature of the hot coffee in the rateful coolness of the breeze wafted in through the open ?

Can I feel again the strain ofthe heavy dish? Can I feel thethe beefsteak? Of the throat and lips in talking? Of the chest and diaphrag? In hand and arain the sensation of pain which acco of a drop of acid froe into the eye? The chance ache in the head? The pleasant feeling connected with the exhilaration of a beautifulof perfect health? The pleasure connected with partaking of a favorite food?

POWER OF IMAGERY VARIES IN DIFFERENT PEOPLE--It is et perfectly clear ies in all these lines, certainly not with equal facility; for the ireatly from person to person A celebrated painter was able, after placing his subject in a chair and looking at him attentively for a few minutes, to dismiss the subject and paint a perfect likeness of hie which recurred to the artist every time he turned his eyes to the chair where the sitter had been placed On the other hand, a young lady, a student in y class, tells me that she is never able to recall the looks of her mother when she is absent, even if the separation has been only for a few e of the form, with the color and cut of the dress, but never the features One person h his auditory ieneral it ery decreases with age The writer has h-school students, college students, and specialists in psychology averaging e Ales played a sroup than of the younger More or less abstract ideas and concepts seeery of earlier years

IMAGERY TYPES--Although there is soery of different sensory types, probably there is less variation here than has been supposed Earlier pedagogical works spoke of the _visual_ type of mind, or the _audile_ type, or the _ery necessarily rendered a person short in other types Later studies have shown this view incorrect, however The person who has good ies of one type is likely to excel in all types, while one who is lacking in any one of the more important types will probably be found short in all[4] Most of us probably make ery, while olfactory and gustatory ies seem to play a minor role

4 THE FUNCTION OF IMAGES

Binet says that the ery almost equally well developed is only the fraction of a ly, yet i

IMAGES SUPPLY MATERIAL FOR IMAGINATION AND MEMORY--Iination builds its structures Given a rich supply of iination has thesince past, or to fill the future with plans or experiences not yet reached Lacking ier products reveal in their barrenness and their lack of warmth and reality the poverty of es The face of a friend, the sound of a voice, or the touch of a hand may be recalled, not as a mere fact, but with almost the freshness and fidelity of a percept That oes on in the fores is true But memory is often both aided in its accuracy and rendered h the presence of abundant iical thinking deals s than with particular objects, i than in ination Yet they have their place here as well Students of geo a theore the surface or solid involved

Thinking in the field of astronomy, mechanics, and many other sciences is assisted at certain points by the ability to fores

THE USE OF IMAGERY IN LITERATURE--Facility in the use of iery undoubtedly adds much to our enjoyreat writers coes in their description and narration If we are not able to ees they used, many of their most beautiful pictures are likely to be to us but soprosaic ideas

Shakespeare, describing certain beautiful music, appeals to the sense of smell to make himself understood:

it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odor!

_Lady Macbeth_ cries:

Here's the smell of the blood still: All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand

Milton has _Eve_ say of her dream of the fatal apple:

The pleasant sav'ry sht, Could not but taste

Likeith the sense of touch:

I take thy hand, this hand As soft as dove's down, and as white as it

Iery, with senseless finger tips and leaden footsteps, undertaking to interpret these exquisite lines:

Thus I set my printless feet O'er the cowslip's velvet head, That bends not as I tread