dresses made a most interesting contrast to the cold and darkness outside. It was a monthly social, and after an hour of conversation and refreshment there was an entertainment, to which I failed to listen except now and then, though it was a good one. I did not listen because I had learned a lesson in psychology that evening in a new and forceful way, and I could not resist thinking about it.

"I had noticed as the different people entered the room how each hesitated a moment on the threshold and looked about him. Perhaps he nodded to one or another, then, entering, sought some interesting group, joined it, and in a few moments became a part of it, sharing its laughter and fun. Some of the groups were large, others of two or three. Some stood about in the centre of the room, and others took chairs and withdrew to a corner. Here and there were the 'wanderers' drifting about from group to group, spending a few moments with each. But I was especially interested in a man who came in alone, hesitated quite a long time at the open door, walked about, put his hands in his pockets and stood quietly observing it all. When I thought of him again half an hour later he was passing through the hall and went out the side door. My lesson began.

"The room was no longer a room, but the human brain with its mystical 'grayish matter and cells' of which we speak so easily that we forget the marvel of it all. And the people were no longer people, but Ideas hesitating at the threshold. I saw each new arrival from the world without entering the brain. Here was an Idea coming alone, waiting a moment, then joining quickly and easily the group in the centre, soon to become a part of it. I saw another Idea join itself to a small group in the farthest corner, and a third wandering about, associating with first one and then another of the central groups. Yes, and I saw a fourth enter, stop a moment beside the various groups, hurrying on each time, until when I looked for it, lo, it had gone through some side door. Why had it gone? For the very same reason that the man left the chapel. It found no group in which it belonged, no associates, nothing to which it might attach itself. There seemed to be no place for it, and it went out.

"As I thought about it, I seemed to see as a new revelation the old law of 'Association of Ideas' with which I had been so

long familiar—an explanation of the reason why children seeming to know, and even to repeat, certain facts in history, geography or Bible study, knew nothing about them two days later. The fact had gone, the knowledge poured in had vanished, largely because it was unconnected, isolated material unable to find any group with which to associate itself. If this be true, what must I do? The answer is plain-attempt to teach in such a way that the new Idea which I present shall be associated with some Idea already in the mind, that when it enters it may find a group of kindred Ideas ready to welcome it."

Apperception Explained.

This is rather a hard name for a simple thing. It is merely the process by which new knowledge is introduced into the mind by connecting it with that already there. An impression no sooner enters our Consciousness than it is drafted off in various directions, making associations with former knowledge and impressions already there. If I mention the word "Apple," it will recall to your mind the taste, appearance, and form, either of all apples in general, or of some particular apple that you remember. You can only understand what I mean by the term "Apple" by having this previous knowledge. If you have never experienced an apple, I can only make myself understood by comparing the apple to some fruit you have known about. This process of joining the new to the old is called Apperception. It is really the point of proceeding from the known to the unknown. In later life, the tendency to leave the old impressions undisturbed by new ideas leads to what we call "Old Fogyism," or Conservatism. (The chapter in James' book, dealing with this subject, is most delightful reading.)

We might put it in another way by saying that a new idea. corresponds to a new person coming into a room unacquainted with anyone there. Step by step, he is introduced to this one. and to the next and to the third, until he has met everyone there. When he is fully introduced to everyone, he is known by everyone. He is the new idea received by and amalgamated with the old ideas already present. This process of Apperception really means the association of ideas.

Realizing an Idea.

As Professor Adams says: "We may be said to realize an idea when we give it our full attention, and let it develop its full meaning, and exercise its full force upon us. Some ideas realize themselves within the mind itself: they exhaust themselves by becoming distinct and vivid: they require nothing further. If we have a clear and vivid idea of red, for example, we are satisfied, we ask no more; the idea leads to nothing beyond itself. But if the idea of an action becomes vivid in the mind, there is a strong tendency for that idea to pass over into action. If we think earnestly about a certain action, we find ourselves impelled to perform that action. If you make a clear picture in your mind of yourself performing some action, you will find that the longer you dwell on this picture the stronger becomes your inclination to perform the action, and if you retain the picture long enough, the inclination becomes practically irresistible. This fact explains whatever is genuine in those parlor tricks generally known as Thought-reading.

"To the teacher the moral application is obvious. Temptation really consists in the effect of an idea to realize itself. If the idea is evil, then the temptation is to evil; but the teacher ought to remember that the same force may be used towards good. We may be tempted to good as well as to evil. The teacher's fight must be to put good ideas into the mind, and keep them there; he must be concerned more with good ideas than with evil ones. The moment the teacher speaks of an evil idea, he increases its presentative activity, and thus, to some extent, aids it to realize itself. We must fight evil indirectly by supplying ideas of good. This is the teaching of S. Paul when he says, 'All uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you.' We must nurture the mind with ideas of good, and starve it in respect of ideas of evil.

"Not only must a place be prepared for the new idea, but, if possible the need for it should be made prominent. Advertisers understand this principle. Some years ago the whole country was flooded with large placards on which was printed nothing but a large Oxford frame in black. A week or two later the placards were replaced by others in which the words were printed within the frame: 'Watch this frame.' In due

course, a third placard appeared, containing a simple advertisement that would, under other circumstances, have attracted little attention, but that, thanks to this careful preparation, had a wonderful effect."

Dr. Scripture of Columbia University states the same truth even more forcibly: "Every idea of a movement brings an impulse to movement. This is especially prominent in the many individuals who cannot keep a secret. The very reading and thinking about crimes and scandalous action produces a tendency to commit them. In some persons this influence is quite irresistible. As soon as one bomb-thrower attacks a rich banker, everybody knows that in a week half a dozen others will do the same. No sooner does one person commit suicide in such a way that it is strikingly described in the newspapers, than a dozen others go and do likewise."

Stages of Thinking.

When sensations come into the mind through perception, they go through the several processes of Attention, Analysis, and Association. We can represent this process by the four divisions of thought. (1) Sense perception.-This is the first stage of thinking and cannot properly be called "thinking," for, though our minds are acting, it concerns sensation practically sub-conscious and never entered into real consciousness. When, however late, the small child realizes its sensations, it at first does not combine them. Each sensation stands alone and unrelated. )2) Understanding analyzes and combines sensations (Synthesis), and secures Perceptions. Thus, I see a pear. Its weight and smoothness reach my mind through the touch; its size, color, etc., enter my mind through the avenue of the eye; and its taste through the mouth; and so I receive my idea of a pear as one of the fruits by the combination of the multitude of single sensations. We gather the general idea with each kind of sensations acting from a particular point. Thus no reader sees all the words on the page, nor more than one-half of the letters in these words. (3) The next stage of thought is Reflection, combining Analysis and Synthesis. It reaches principles and laws. It is the clearing-up time, the Aufklärung of the GerIt asks, "How?" and "Why?" (4) The highest stage of

mans.

reason is Philosophic Insight, which sees the cause of all things, namely, God. It sees the world as explained by the principle of Absolute Person. Reflection does not begin much before adolescence, that is twelve or thirteen, while Philosophic Insight is seen about seventeen or eighteen.

It may be well for a moment to see how this explains the diverse forms of belief and religion existing: (a) The lowest stage of thought is Atheistic or Atomistic, finding each thing sufficient for itself. (b) The stage of Understanding is Pantheistic, finding everything finite and relative; an unknown and unknowable force. Thus, Buddhism and Brahmanism are related to the Understanding. (c) Reason is Theistic; and Christianity is essentially the Religion of Reason. It teaches by Authority the view-of-the-world that Reason thinks.

Professor Pratt, in his PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF, states: "This tendency, seen in so many children, to reason back to a first cause is certainly innate, and suggests the question whether or not the reason alone, without any aid from authority or external suggestion, would be enough to bring about belief in God. On the whole, there can be little doubt that in some cases at least, the reason and imagination, if left entirely to themselves and without external help, would build up a belief in some kind of a God. There are certain anti-religious beliefs which take particularly strong hold on the popular imagination and with which critical thought can very well deal. The best example of these is, of course, materialism, and the service which reason has rendered to religion in warding off its attack is of great importance. Thanks to it, materialism scarcely poses any longer as a serious attempt completely to explain the universe. Haeckel stands almost alone in defending it. His courage is as admirable as that of the boy who 'stood on the burning deck, whence all but him had fled.' So much for belief in general.

"Now the three phases or kinds of belief which we have been discussing are particularly marked in the history of man's faith in the divine. Religious belief may be mere primitive credulity which accepts as truly divine whatever is presented to it as such; it may be based on reasoning of various sorts; or it may be due to a need of the organism, or to an emotional experience or