Psychology: the cognitive powers / by James McCosh.

  • McCosh, James, 1811-1894.
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Psychology: the cognitive powers / by James McCosh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    lost sight of. On the other hand, we may be so absorbed with the contemplation as scarcely to notice the asso- ciated sensation. The soldier eagerly engaged in the fight with the enemy in front of him does not for a time feel the wound with which he is pierced. In gazing at a historical painting, we may be so interested in the in- cident as not to notice the coloring; whereas, in looking at a flower painting we so enjoy the rich hues as never to notice the disposition of the flowers. This fact is an illustration of a more general law of our nature, that when we fix our attention on one part of a concrete or complex phenomenon presented, the other parts become dim, and may in the end very much vanish from the view. Original and Acquired Perceptions. — We have seen that man must have original perceptions. Such are those of savors by the taste, of odors by the nostrils, of sounds b}^ the ear, of a colored surface by the eye, and of resistance by the muscular sense. Unless we get these by an original inlet we can never acquire them by any derivative process. A man born blind can- not form any understanding or idea of color ; it is Locke who tells us of the blind man who, on being asked what idea he had of the color of scarlet, replied that he thought it to be like the sound of a trumpet. But then by combining our experiences and by reasoning from them we can add indefinitely to our knowledge. Thus it is believed that originally human beings cannot estimate distance by sight, and yet it is mainly by this sense that the mature man is able to tell the distance of objects from one another and from himself. He has acquired a knowledge of nearness or remoteness by the muscular sense, say by the hand pressing along a surface ; but now he is able by the eye discerning the shade of color or the