ensory; the other, because it is rational. Both make use
of analogous modes of association, dependent more on the nature of
things than on the personal impression of the subject. Opposition exists
only on one point: the former is made up of vivid images that approach
perception; the latter is made up of internal images bordering upon
concepts. Rational imagination is plastic imagination desiccated and
simplified.

FOOTNOTES:

[79] Thus Taine says of Carlyle: "He cannot stick to simple
expression; at every step he drops into figures, gives body to every
idea, must touch forms. We see that he is possessed and haunted by
glittering or saddening visions; in him every thought is an
explosion; a flood of seething passion reaches the boiling-point in
his brain, which overflows, and the torrent of images runs over the
banks and rushes with all its mud and all its splendor. He cannot
reason, he must paint." Despite the vigor of this sketch, the
perusal of ten pages of _Sartor Resartus_ or of the _French
Revolution_ teaches more in regard to the nature of this imagination
than all the commentaries.

[80] For a point of view in criticism that has seemed correct to
many on this matter, compare the well-known chapter on the "Pathetic
Fallacy" by Ruskin, in his _Modern Painters_. (Tr.)

[81] Arreat (_Psychologie du peintre_, pp. 62 ff.) gives a large
number of examples of this.

[82] _Ibid._, p. 115.

[83] For further details on this point, consult Mabilleau, _Victor
Hugo_, 2nd part, chaps. II, III, IV.--Renouvier, in the book devoted
to the poet, asserts that "on account of his aptitude for
representing to himself the details of a figure, order and position
in space, beyond any present sensation," Victor Hugo could have
become a mathematician of the highest order.

[84] As bearing out the position of the author, we may also call
attention to the fact that while the Hebrew race has had very slight
development in the plastic arts, yet its mythology has always taken
a very definite form, even when dealing with the vaguest and most
abstract subjects. (Tr.)

[85] Fouillee, _Psychologie du peuple francais_, p. 185.

CHAPTER II

THE DIFFLUENT IMAGINATION

I

The diffluent imagination is another general form, but one that is
completely opposed to the foregoing. It consists of vaguely-outlined,
indistinct images that are evoked and joined according to the least
rigorous modes of association. It presents, then, two t