examination of our own minds, we do not appear conscious of any
intermediate perception, between the motive and the performance of the
action, or the execution of the will. If it were allowable to indulge in
analogical reasoning, which usually diverts us from the consideration of
the subject, we might endeavour to illustrate this process by the firing
of a pistol. When we have taken due aim, we have only to draw the
trigger, which produces the explosion: in doing this, however, we
perceive the emission of light from the combustion of the powder; but to
this there is nothing analogous in the operation of the will:--the
dictate of the will, and the motion excited, when watched with the
utmost attention, appear instantaneous, and become synchronous by habit.
Considering the celerity of our voluntary movements, there appears a
good reason why no perceptible intervention should exist, to divert the
mind from the immediate performance of the will. The correspondence of
the motion to the intimation of the will, is the business of education
and the performance of habit.
The exertion of the will on the bodily organs having been generally
described, it now remains to demonstrate its influence on the mind; and
so far as we are enabled to discover, it appears to be performed by the
same process. The direction of the several organs of sense to the
examination of objects, is an act of the will, and has been named
Attention; which, by some writers, has been deemed a peculiar and
constituent faculty of the mind; but in the present view it is
considered only as the practical result of the operation of volition on
the organs of sense, on memory, and on reflection. The soundest mind (as
far as it has been hitherto considered) may be attributed to him who
possesses the most enduring control over the organs of sense, in order
to examine objects accurately, and thereby to acquire a full and
complete perception. That memory is the best, which can voluntarily and
immediately produce that which has been committed to its custody; and
that reflection is the most perfect, which is exclusively occupied with
the subject of consideration. There seems also to be a considerable
similarity between the morbid states of the instruments of voluntary
motion, and certain affections of the mental powers: thus, paralysis has
its counterpart in the defects of recollection, where the utmost
endeavour to remember is ineffectually exerted; tremor may be compared
with incapability of fixing the attention, and this involuntary state of
muscles ordinarily subjected to the will, also finds a parallel, where
the mind loses its influence on the train of thought, and becomes
subject to spontaneous intrusions; as may be exemplified in reverie,
dreaming, and some species of madness.
As attention is considered an exertion of the will on the organs of
sense and faculties of the mind, it may be allowable to remark on the
nature and meaning of the term. It was evidently imposed under a
prevailing hypothesis, that the mind possessed a power of stretching or
extending itself to the objects of its perception, or to the subjects of
reflection; it is therefore a figurative term. Indeed something of this
nature actually takes place in the organ:--in minute examinations by the
eye, we actually strain and stretch its muscles, and feel the fatigue
which results from over-exertion:--when we listen, the neck is
stretched forward, and such position enables us to collect those
vibrations of sound, that would be otherwise inaudible. We are not
unaccustomed to describe the higher and more felicitous productions of
intellect, as a vigorous grasp of the mental powers, or as a noble
stretch of thought: but to infer that the mind itself was capable of
being extended, would be to invest it directly with the properties of
substance, and at once plunge us into the grossest materialism. The
perfection of this voluntary direction, or, as it has been termed,
faculty of attention, consists in intensity and duration. Of the former
there can be no admeasurement, excepting by its effect, which is
recollection: its duration can be well ascertained. The faculty of
attention in the human mind may be exerted in two ways; first, by the
organs of sense to the objects of perception; and, secondly, by the mind
to the subjects of its recollection; and this latter exercise of
attention, as will be hereafter explained, seems to be in a very great
degree peculiar to man, and to be nearly wanting in animals.
According to the nature and constitution of the human mind, the
effective duration of the attention seems to be very limited: if the eye
be steadily directed to any particular object, after a few seconds, it
will be found to wander; and if the mind be exerted on the subjects of
its recollection, there is very soon perceived an interruption, from the
intrusion of irrelevant thoughts. The effective duration of the
attention will much depend on the superior capacity, nature, or
constitution of the intellect itself; but still more on the manner in
which these habits of attention are exercised; for, by proper
cultivation, its duration may be considerably protracted. As a proof of
the limited endurance of the faculty of attention in ordinary minds,
allow the following experiment to be made.
Let two ordinary persons, A. and B., take a map of a district with which
they are unacquainted, and let each be allowed half an hour to study the
map. Desire A. to fix his attention undeviatingly to the map for this
time; and at its expiration, the map being withdrawn, request him to put
on paper the relative situations and names of the different places; and
for the performance of his task, allow him another half hour. As the
experiment has been repeatedly made, it may be confidently predicted,
that A. would exhibit a very incorrect copy of the original map. Let B.
take the same map to study for the same time; but instead of keeping his
eyes undeviatingly fixed to the object, desire him to view it only for a
few seconds; and then, shutting his eyes, let him endeavour to bring the
picture of the map before his mind: his first efforts will convey a very
confused notion of the actual and relative positions; but he will become
sensible of his defects, and reinspect the map for their correction. If
this successive ocular examination and review by the mind, be continued
during the half hour, or even for a less time, B. will be competent to
make a drawing of the map with superior accuracy to A., who endeavoured
to fix his attention for the whole of the time allotted. In conducting
this experiment some very curious phenomena may be observed. If A. had
directed his eyes to the object intensely and undeviatingly, especially
in a strong light, and had then covered or shut his eyes, in order to
recollect the relative situations in the map, the straining of the organ
to the object would defeat his endeavours; and instead of being able to
bring the picture before his mind, he would be annoyed and interrupted
by the intrusion of ocular spectra, undergoing the succession of changes
described by Dr. Darwin.[14] Thus there are limits to the duration of
our effective attention: if the organ of vision be too long directed to
the object of perception, ocular spectra arise, fatigue and confusion
ensue in the other senses; and if the subjects of recollection be too
long and intensely contemplated, delirium will supervene.
In page 52, after enumerating the wonderful productions of the hand, an
objection was foreseen, which may be conveniently examined in the
present chapter. That all the performances of the human hand, and of the
other members of the body, which are not the result of involuntary
movements, must have been the consequence of the direction of the will,
is indisputable: it is, in fact, the common relation of cause and
effect: but the creation of this distinction, would assign separate
offices to the mind and to the organ;--or to the power directing, and to
the instrument by which the command is executed. Sufficient has been
already adduced, to render it obvious, that mind or organ _alone_ would
be inadequate for the purposes of intelligence. Perception, without its
record or memory, would be a useless endowment; muscles or organs of
motion, without a power to direct their actions, could have answered no
purpose: to be effective, volition must have an object on which its
influence can be exerted. In the case of a paralytic arm or leg, the
exercise of the will is a fruitless endeavour; and the command to render
fixed a tremulous hand is equally unavailing. The power or capacity of
moving the muscles,--of directing the organs of sense to the examination
of objects,--of recollecting,--and of regulating our thoughts or
reflections, constitutes the will; but this acquirement is of very
gradual formation, and the result of mutual and progressive exercise,
both of mind and organ. Ordinary persons have no information of the
structure by which they perform their motions; and it may be also
doubted if an able anatomist would be competent to describe the action
of the different muscles, in complicated movements. The most dexterous
artificer, is wholly ignorant of the intimate construction of the organs
by which he performs his wonderful elaborations,--he has acquired the
happy facility by repeated exercise. There is a tacit and practical
convention between his mind and the powers which produce the
performance; tacit, as he is unable to describe them, and practical, as,
if naturally left-handed, he is unable by any mental directions or
influence of volition, to exhibit the same performance with the right.
The apparent facility and astonishing rapidity with which, by practice,
we perform many of our voluntary motions, has induced an opinion, that
such motions might be considered as automatical, which implies that they
were performed by the organ independently of the will; but this would be
to maintain, that the most difficult and felicitous of our voluntary
motions were themselves involuntary. This supposition is so absurd that
it refutes itself; its admission would be a libel on the perfection of
human attainment, and tend to subvert the best portion of our existing
morality.
That voluntary muscles may be converted into involuntary, has been
already observed; but this conversion is to be considered a morbid
state, and must be regarded as a degradation of our nature, instead of
its perfection. Excess in the use of fermented liquors, will generally
produce it; and the habitual practice of intemperance will destroy the
influence of volition over the intellectual powers; so that the control
over the succession of our thoughts can be no longer exerted, and when
we give them utterance they are without connection, and we talk at
random.
It is not to be expected, in a work which professes to be merely
contributions to the Natural History and Physiology of Intelligent
Beings, that a particular discussion of moral subjects should be
instituted; and such is the question concerning the freedom of the human
will: the reader is therefore referred to those writers who have fully,
and with considerable acuteness, discussed this intricate and important
topic. The nature of this attribute is however so interwoven with the
philosophy of mind, so connected with the view which has been taken of
its history and constitution, that it is impossible wholly to abstain
from the consideration of its influence on the excellence and demerit of
human actions. It has been endeavoured, throughout this chapter, to
establish, that the power which goads or stimulates the muscles to
action, and the mind to exertion, is not inherent, but acquired by
practice; and this is exemplified by the state of the new-born infant,
which, at that period, manifests no more of volition, than of
perception, reflection, or reason. It has also been conjectured, that
the possession of this influence must be subsequent to perception, for
reasons which have been assigned. With its intimate nature we are
unacquainted; but we see, as far as muscular motion is concerned, that
the same effect is produced by the stimulus of galvanism after the head
is removed, and when, according to our existing philosophy,
consciousness is destroyed, and the power of willing is abolished. It is
by no means intended to suppose that the stimulus of the will has any
affinity with the galvanic fluid, because we are unable to prove it;
although such opinion has been entertained. According to my own
interpretation, Will is to be considered as the mere spur, the simple
stimulus to action: it possesses no intelligence to direct; but in the
healthy state, excites motion in consequence of being itself directed to
such excitement. To invest Will with intelligence sufficient for its
purposes, would render reason, the highest of our attainments,
superfluous. Those who have most strenuously contended for the freedom
of the will, have insisted that it possesses the liberty of choosing or
preferring: allow this, and then enquire what must be the nature of that
choice or preference, which is selected by an arbitrary decision,
without the previous estimate or calculation of reason. Man, beyond all
other beings, is endowed with superior means of accumulating knowledge,
and of preserving experience; by these, therefore, his actions should be
directed. If, independently of these, his will possessed a power of
directing his actions, it would be equivalent to the instinct of
animals: he would, like them, be stationary, and his conduct liable to
no responsibility. The long period of infancy in man has been frequently
adverted to; and it is a considerable time before he acquires sufficient
experience to direct his conduct; and during which, many of the species
of animals have completed several generations. For this reason, the
wisest legislators, of all ages, have exempted children under a certain
age, from the punishment of death for their actions; and although many
of them have entertained erroneous notions concerning the nature of the
will, yet they tacitly admit, in the instances of infants, idiots, and
madmen,--that is, where the understanding is not sufficiently formed by
experience, or where it is perverted by disease, that the acts of the
will ought not to be visited by the severity of the law. This is perhaps
the best practical illustration, that the will to act, is governed and
directed by reason. Had the mind of man, like animals, been furnished
with instinct, which, in them, implies a wise, preconcerted, and
unvarying performance of important functions, for their individual
preservation, and for the continuance of their race,--as may be
exemplified in the construction of the habitations of the bee and
beaver, together with their wonderful economy,--the fabrication of the
spider's web, and many others,--he would, like them, have been
stationary, having received from Infinite Bounty and Wisdom sufficient
for his destination: his will would have been directed by unerring
motives; and thus his conduct would have been absolved from all
responsibility. But man is gifted with few instincts, which appear to
decline as his reason advances: his intellect is more capacious, and of
a finer staple; he possesses additional organs for the accumulation of
knowledge; and, by the peculiarity of his construction, is enabled to
preserve his acquirements, to avail himself of the treasures of those
who have preceded him, and to transmit his collections to posterity.
Man, in possession of ampler materials and superior capacity, becomes
the architect of his own mind; and to him it is alone permitted, by the
aid of experience, and the estimate of reason, to direct his actions:
but this generous and exalted faculty involves him in awful
responsibility. The same light which discovers to him that which is good
and lawful, also exposes its opposite, which is evil and forbidden; and
the nature of good and evil, as it forms the foundation of human
institutions, has been derived from our experience of their effects, or
a calculation of their tendencies. The will of man, therefore, is as
free as his experience dictates, and his reason urges to action: yet,
that he should often act in opposition to both, is as lamentable as
certain: in the transport of immediate gratification, or in the hopes of
enjoyment, precept ceases to influence, and example loses its warning.
Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] In some of these instances, where the will has ceased to influence
the muscles, the due sensibility of the nerves has
remained.--Medico-Chirurgical Transactions, vol. ix. p. 8.
[13] So little does the infant appear to possess any control over those
organs which afterwards become subject to voluntary influence, that it
may be sufficient to remark the flow of saliva, of urine, and the more
solid evacuations, are subject to no restraint, and for some time are
passed with little or no consciousness: even the motions which are
excited in the limbs, appear to be spasmodic, rather than the effect of
direction.
[14] Vide Darwin's Thesis de Spectris Ocularibus.
ON THOUGHT OR REFLECTION.
Those recollected objects, which have been transmitted by the senses, or
which we have perceived by their means, are the subjects of our thoughts
or reflections; for these terms will be indifferently employed, as
designating the same faculty or process. The obvious meaning of the word
_reflection_, is the representation of any object in a mirror. This
term, so well understood in that department of natural philosophy named
optics, has been transferred to mind, in order to explain a process,
supposed to be similar. If, however, we examine the analogy, it will not
accord:--to produce reflection in the mirror, the object must be
present; in the mind, the reflection takes place when the object is
absent. Although the simile, strictly speaking, is imperfect, yet the
figure is beautiful, and, considering the metaphorical nature of
language, as applied to mental operations, the most natural and
appropriate that could have been selected; for, speaking in a general
way, our thoughts, in themselves appear very much as the shadows or
reflection of our perceptions. As we are but little capable of
communicating the nature of our perceptions, independently of language,
we must have recourse to inference and conjecture. It is fully
understood that our visual perceptions, through the medium of
recollection, may be represented by the skilful execution of the hand;
and that those of smell, taste, and touch do not directly admit of such
delineation. We might next inquire, if the odours we perceive are as
strongly impressed on the olfactory organ, as the subjects of visual
perception on the eye? Are they as fully and distinctly recollected? and
are they capable by themselves of affording the materials for thought or
reflection? Animals possess certain senses in common with ourselves;
and, in many, the organs are more susceptible than our own; but there
are no circumstances which have yet transpired, to induce us to suppose
that the perceptions they have acquired are reviewed by their minds,
when the objects which excited them are absent. The memory they possess
of the perceptions they have experienced, is perhaps superior to that
of human beings; still it does not appear, from any manifestations they
afford, that it is actively exercised, as with ourselves, but
occasionally excited by the recurrence of the object which originally
produced it. Language is the pencil which marks the bold outline, and
lends a colouring to our different perceptions; and with this boon man
is exclusively gifted. A rational curiosity will prompt the reader to
inquire, in what our perceptions consist independently of the language
in which we ordinarily clothe them. In the instance of optical
perception, we know that it is _something_ which is retained by the
memory, and may be traced by the hand, so as to convince others that it
is truly remembered or recollected[15]; but let the same enquiry be
made concerning the perceptions we receive by the touch, the smell, and
the taste: in this investigation we shall experience much greater
difficulty, as it is an endeavour to conceive the nakedness of a figure
which is always clothed. That these perceptions must also be _something_
abstracted from the terms which represent them, is proved, by the
circumstance, that they are recollected when they occur again. As we are
educated by language, and acquire a facility of employing it as the
vehicle of our thoughts, we are little accustomed to contemplate the
subject in this manner, and this also enhances the difficulty. When,
however, the importance of speech is adequately considered, it will, I
think, be detected, that the terms which we employ as the
representatives of the perceptions of touch, smell, and taste, are the
only media by which they can be voluntarily recollected or communicated
to others; and, as signs of such perceptions, are equivalent to the
representations by the hand of those which have been perceived by the
organ of vision. To attempt the analysis of these silent deposits, to
endeavour to describe these bare perceptions, would be altogether
unavailing, because description implies language. In fact, it would be
an effort to detect the symmetry of the human frame, by loading it with
modern finery. The wonderful capacity which man exclusively enjoys,
both for the communication of his thoughts, and for the improvement of
his memory, in being enabled to acquire and transmit knowledge by
impregnating sound with intelligence, and more especially in exhibiting
its character embodied to the eye, leaves the rest of animated creation
at a prodigious distance. This endowment of language to man, whereby he
can, by an articulate sound, recall the perception of objects, (not
indeed equal to the sensorial impression, but sufficient for their
recollection, and also for the proof of their identity)--whereby he can
with equal intelligence exhibit their character to the eye, is
sufficient to explain of what the materials of his thoughts
consist:--and to prove that animals being unable to substitute a term
for their perceptions, are incapable of the process which we denominate
thought or reflection. To fathom this mystery, is perhaps impossible;
but, from attentively watching that which passeth within us,--from
considering the state of animals which want this endowment altogether,
it seems to be a law of our intellectual constitution, that our thoughts
or reflections can only consist of the terms which represent our
perceptions; and this is more evidently true, when we reflect on those
subjects which are of a general or abstract nature.
Whoever will attentively watch the operation of his own mind,--for this
subject admits of direct experiment,--will find that he employs terms
when he conducts the process of reflection. In order to afford a fair
trial, it is necessary that he should be alone, and subject to no
interruptions. It will also add to the facility of the experiment, that
he select a subject with which he is but little acquainted, as the
process will be more deliberate. On topics with which we are familiar,
we have acquired a rapidity of exercise which renders the detection of
the process more difficult and perplexing. In this trial, he will be
aware that he is repeating words as the materials of his thoughts. If
the subject on which he should think involves persons with whom he is
acquainted, or scenes he has viewed, he will, in addition to the terms
he employs, have the pictures, or visible phantasmata, of these
presented to his mind, conjunctively with such words. That we actually
employ terms in this process is evident in many, who, when exercising
their thoughts on any subject, are found, as we term it, talking to
themselves; so that we are enabled to observe the motion of their lips:
and this circumstance is to be noticed in most persons when they are
counting.