pearance.

A somewhat similar choice of interpretation offers itself in looking at
elaborate decorative patterns. When we strongly imagine any number of
details to be elements of one figure, they seem to become so; and a
given detail positively appears to alter in character according as it is
viewed as an element of a more or less complex figure.

These examples show what force belongs to a vivid preconception, if this
happens to fit only very roughly the impression of the moment, that is
to say, if the interpretative image is one of the possible suggestions
of the impression. The play of imagination takes a wider range in those
cases where the impression is very indefinite in character, easily
allowing of a considerable variety of imaginative interpretation.

I referred at the beginning of this account of sense-illusions to the
readiness with which the mind deceives itself with respect to the nature
and causes of the vague sensations which usually form the dim background
of our mental life. A person of lively imagination, by trying to view
these in a particular way, and by selectively attending to those aspects
of the sensation which answer to the caprice of the moment, may give a
variety of interpretations to one and the same set of sensations. For
example, it is very easy to get confused with respect to those tactual
and motor feelings which inform us of the position of our bodily
members. And so, when lying in bed, and attending to the sensations
connected with the legs, we may easily delude ourselves into supposing
that these members are arranged in a most eccentric fashion. Similarly,
by giving special heed to the sensations arising in connection with the
condition of the skin at any part, we may amuse ourselves with the
strangest fancies as to what is going on in these regions.

Again, when any object of visual perception is indistinct or indefinite
in form, there is plainly an opening for this capricious play of fancy
in transforming the actual. This is illustrated in the well-known
pastime of discovering familiar forms, such as those of the human head
and animals, in distant rocks and clouds, and of seeing pictures in the
fire, and so on. The indistinct and indefinite shapes of the masses of
rock, cloud, or glowing coal, offer an excellent field for creative
fancy, and a person of lively imagination will discover endless forms in
what, to an unimaginative eye, is a formless waste. Johannes Mueller
relates th