to play freely for a very
brief period, until a couple or so of ideas have passed through it,
and then, while the traces or echoes of those ideas are still
lingering in the brain, to turn the attention upon them with a
sudden and complete awakening; to arrest, to scrutinise them, and to
record their exact appearance. Afterwards I collate the records at
leisure, and discuss them, and draw conclusions. It must be
understood that the second of the two ideas was never derived from
the first, but always directly from the original object. This was
ensured by absolutely withstanding all temptation to reverie. I do
not mean that the first idea was of necessity a simple elementary
thought; sometimes it was a glance down a familiar line of
associations, sometimes it was a well-remembered mental attitude or
mode of feeling, but I mean that it was never so far indulged in as
to displace the object that had suggested it from being the primary
topic of attention.

I must add, that I found the experiments to be extremely trying and
irksome, and that it required much resolution to go through with them,
using the scrupulous care they demanded. Nevertheless the results
well repaid the trouble. They gave me an interesting and unexpected
view of the number of the operations of the mind, and of the obscure
depths in which they took place, of which I had been little
conscious before. The general impression they have left upon me is
like that which many of us have experienced when the basement of our
house happens to be under thorough sanitary repairs, and we realise
for the first time the complex system of drains and gas and water
pipes, flues, bell-wires, and so forth, upon which our comfort
depends, but which are usually hidden out of sight, and with whose
existence, so long as they acted well, we had never troubled
ourselves.

The first experiments I made were imperfect, but sufficient to
inspire me with keen interest in the matter, and suggested the form
of procedure that I have already partly described. My first
experiments were these. On several occasions, but notably on one
when I felt myself unusually capable of the kind of effort required,
I walked leisurely along Pall Mall, a distance of 450 yards, during
which time I scrutinised with attention every successive object that
caught my eyes, and I allowed my attention to rest on it until one
or two thoughts had arisen through direct association with that
object; then I took very b