Let fate do her worst; there are relics of joy, THOMAS MOORE. BEFORE discussing various phases of memory, or memories, we shall redeem the promise made at the close of the last chapter to illustrate the working of our hypothesis, genetic parallelism and functional interaction. We shall assume that every perception and its feebler repetition involved in recollection is a dual process into which conscious and physical elements invariably enter; that every psychical process is accompanied by a corresponding neural process; that either may take the initiative in recalling an experience, and that one having once induced the other to a certain act, the two unite in its performance; that there is a functional interaction. In the words of Browning, "Nor soul helps. 175 flesh more now than flesh helps soul." I conceive that an image may be revived in two ways: (1) The neural discharge, by virtue of the brain modifications caused by the original perception and previous recall, may take the initiative and, together with the conscious stream which has accompanied the discharge in the previous processes, may lead to the recall of the fact or experience. (2) The conscious element may take the initiative and, accompanied by the neural impulses with which it previously has been associated, may become responsible for the recall. It is by no means necessary to assume a different process for conscious, subconscious, and unconscious states; for what is unconscious to-day may become, conscious to-morThe mental life is one. We assume not only split-off consciousness of the cortical states (which was amply illustrated in Chapter III), but also that wherever consciousness exists in man, there is a neural counterpart; and wherever there is a portion of the living neural mechanism, there consciousness exists, although the latter may seldom report its doings to the focus of consciousness. Reference was made in the previous chapter to the view of Pflüger and Lewes. Fechner holds that the entire body is the seat of the soul. Recollecting that only from one to six images can be in the focus of consciousness at a time, perhaps we can explain the exceeding complexity of the nervous and mental mechan row. ism by assuming that processes like the cortical in kind, but not in degree, exist throughout the nervous system. If the reader believes that the mental and physical phenomena are obverse sides of the same process, or that one is an emanation or aura from the other, yet for him the two phenomena practically exist. Perhaps the simplest type is represented by the reflex arc which is illustrated in Fig. 11. Let us sup 99 FIG. 11.-(Van Gehuchten.) pose that the neural process takes the initiative and, accompanied by its conscious process, traverses the ganglion gg, and arrives at the sensory centre in the cord. Collaterals thrown out from this centre carry the excitation to the motor centres in the ventral horn by means of the terminal arborization. Here, again, the neural impulses take the initiative and, accompanied by the conscious stream, arrive at the muscles in the lower terminus. We assumed, although not necessarily, that the neural element took the initiative. In the ventral or motor cells we may suppose that the same elements, both neural and conscious, respond to the excitations with which they have been en rapport in the past. If the act be secondary automatic, it represents the organic memory of Hering. If, however, it be a true reflex, it may represent an atavistic, memory. In order to represent more graphically the interaction of the two elements the following diagram may be used. In the figure, let A, B, C, D, E, and F represent associated memories; let the heavy lines represent the path of the neural impulses, and the dotted lines the accompanying conscious stream. Let the excitation start at I and traverse IA, accompanied by the conscious process with which it was associated when A was perceived. As the neural process IA was the condition of the conscious perception of A, so it is a condition of its conscious recall. In this case the nerve impulses took the initiative. The recall of A differs from the perception in that it is not quite so vivid, and the conscious element reports to the focus of consciousness or to the personality that A is familiar and has been perceived before. We must remember that the gray matter of the cortex is in a state of unstable equilibrium and has a tendency to discharge in all directions, but is controlled in a large measure by habit and follows well-worn paths. The conscious element, too, is on the qui vive in memory, and when the mental excitement is greatest the most memories are revived. The nerve impulses now traverse the paths A2, 2B, or they may short-circuit from A to B accompanied by the conscious stream. So A recalls B, and in like manner B recalls C. So far the neural impulses have taken the initiative in the act of recall. C let us suppose two equally well-worn paths for the nerve impulse, Cr and C4. The shifting neural chain is as liable to go in one direction as the other. But the conscious element may have a preference for C4. Perhaps there is a dim realization that something like D will turn up by the route C4. Here the conscious element takes the initiative and the route C4, 4D is traversed. In like manner D5 is traversed. Now, suppose that when 5 is reached there is no path for the neural element from 5 to E, but that there is a well-worn one from 5 to F. Either At |