if we lived twice as long and were twice as old as now." This is a
suggestion for Mr. Well's "Anticipations" Is evolution leading us in
this direction or the other? Is it retarding or "quickening the
molecular arrangements of the nervous system?" Are we becoming "more
delicately balanced so that physical changes proceed more quickly as
thoughts become more comprehensive, feelings more intense, and will,
stronger." Does the time it needs to think, feel, and will become
less? And we may add are the physical and mental processes of the
intelligent brain, quicker, or slower than the unintelligent? For if
it is the sensitive quick witted organisation, which is destined to
live twice as long as it does now, how will it bear the burden of such
added years? Leaving aside inquiries into Time, and Space Sense--(and
what enormous faculty our minds must have that can supply these)--let
us go on to Mr. J. McKeen Cattell's analysis of memory--which is
perhaps the most interesting of all to the student of mind--the
analysis of memory, attention and association of ideas. Just as the
eye can only see (attend to) a certain number of vibrations, for if
the requisite amount is added to, the result is blankness, darkness,
so the mind can only attend to a certain amount of complexity--add to
the complexity and attention ceases, but, a certain degree of
complexity is necessary to produce any conscious attention at all. In
experiments with a Metronome and the ticking of a watch, it is found
the attention at certain intervals gets weaker--from 2 to 3 seconds.
The impression produced by the ticking of the watch is less distinct,
it seems to disappear and then is heard again. "This is not from
fatigue in the sense organ," but apparently represents "a natural
rhythm in consciousness or attention," which interferes with the
accuracy of attention. What a suggestive fact this is! Have we not all
at times, felt an inexplicable difficulty in listening and attending
to certain speakers, which may perhaps be explained by a difference
between the rhythm of our own consciousness, and that of the voice of
the speaker. In Association of Ideas the time that it takes for one
idea to suggest another has been determined, but of course, it must be
the average time, for people differ enormously in the speed in which
ideas occur to them. It is impossible to allude here to more points,
but in the same interesting article Mr. Mck Cattell considers it
proved that "expe