Most of our evidence of the outer world comes thru the eyes and ears, that is, every object pictured on the retina and every sonorous vibration the unfailing afferent nerves transmit to the brain. There are many examples of the fact that "having eyes we see not and having ears we hear not," at least consciously.

A well-authenticated case illustrative of this is as follows: A lady was startled by seeing on the wall, as if thrown by a flash-light, a notice of the death of a friend. The wording was such as would appear in a newspaper notice. Naturally she was very much startled, and the wonder grew when the inquiry revealed that the person had died as stated.

Reference to the morning paper discovered the identical notice. This paper she had read. Moreover, she remembered having read something else which was in the same column, and the presumption is that the notice was also read in what we commonly call an "absent-minded way." The conscious mind was certainly absent.

Every one has had the experience of reading on, sometimes for pages, and then suddenly discovering that he had been thinking of something entirely foreign to the matter read, of which he was really ignorant. Probably it was registered in the subconscious, but ordinarily the subconscious is a sealed book, until some abnormal experience brings it to the surface.

This ability to ignore noises and sights, and to apply one's self to other problems or acts, marks the strong mind, the power to be in the crowd but not of it. This power of concentration is the power of inhibiting extraneous impressions, and it may go to the extent of absent-mindedness. Every one is familiar with stories of mural painters so engrossed in their work that they have fallen from their scaffolding or been rescued only by some timely interference.

On the other hand, when we realize of what unspeakable value a perfect memory would be, we long for some method of tapping this reservoir.

DECENTRATION

It is a somewhat common experience that one is able to recollect some lost fact by a process of deliberate inattention. By assuming a passive nonconcentration the mind wanders to some of the associated elements of the "moment consciousness" of which the desired item was a part, which is thus reached by direct continuity. This is in striking analogy to retinal perception. In looking for faint stars, one should look a little to one side of where the star is known to be. This brings the retinal image a little to one side of the fovea centralis, and thus aids perception, because such portions are more sensitive to light stimulus. The visual acuity of the fovea, or the power of definition, is immensely superior to peripheral portions. This phenomenon

in both instances might be called decentration of attention.

Sidis suggests closing the eyes and putting one's self into a passive state, as a means of discovering the subconscious. This will again be referred to under auto-suggestion.

GENIUS

It is said there is no accounting for genius. The authorship of Shakespeare's plays has been discussed at great length, and while (to use the words of Sir Roger de Coverley) "a great deal might be said on both sides," the principal argument against the Shakespeare claim is that his education, "knowing little Latin and less Greek," was too meager to make it possible. But in his time the ale-house was the resort of those great lights of the Elizabethan Era. There he might easily have absorbed the stories and learned talk of Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, and hanging around the theater would have made him familiar with the plays of the time. Indeed the free use of anything he could lay his hands on, the close following of the Holinshed Chronicles in the English historical plays, has caused him to be called a plagiarist.

But poets have been notoriously erratic and unbalanced. The artistic mood seems to be incompatible with that dignified self-control which we so much admire. The scientific thinker has no patience with it. Darwin was great enough to recognize the

incongruity of the two types of mind, and said of himself, that altho quite musical in his youth, he had gradually lost the power to enjoy music. The drunken Bobbie Burns is regarded by many as our greatest English poet. Byron and Poe were certainly not well balanced. It is said that Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner" was the result of an opium dream.

There have been numerous boy calculators whose powers transcend anything attainable by the greatest mathematicians. The writer once heard an "inspirational" speaker rattle off poetry for a quarter of an hour on an impromptu subject. Upon this occasion the writer offered the subject of the " Canalboat," thinking it not one of which the bards had frequently sung. The production may not have been of a high order, but the meter was good and it was about the canal-boat, the words recurring very frequently. The recitation began almost immediately after the subject was assigned, and lasted over ten minutes.

Now all of these facts, which demand explanation, suggest the possibility that they are manifestations of subliminal consciousness, the outpouring of material unconsciously absorbed. It is admitted that little proof is at hand, and that even as a theory it fails to cover all the abnormal manifestations.

There are other psychic phenomena, such as clairvoyance, or the power to see without the eyes, and clairaudience, or the power to hear beyond the

range of the ears, which seem to be well established. Telepathy, or thought transference, is believed by many whose scientific attainments and recognized standing command respect of their opinions.

It is cheerfully admitted that these manifestations are at present abnormal. Moreover, genius and insanity are closely allied, and it is not always easy to differentiate them. The expediency of cultivating these experiences by present methods is perhaps questionable. That the imagination may take control even with a sound mind is often seen in children who want to play bear. As the play goes on, especially if some fur rugs be used, the auto-suggestion may be accepted with so little discrimination, that the child really becomes terribly scared.

History is replete with mental epidemics, crusades, and financial panics, which are thoroly irrational.

Undoubtedly it is safer to keep the conscious at the helm, to challenge all new impulses. But the problem for the future is to develop some rational method of utilizing the vast resources of the subconscious. The possibilities are infinite.