attention, either because it was horrible or delightful, or because it was entirely novel, surprising, and out of relation with the habitual current of our life; this is what we express when we say we were very forcibly struck by it, were absorbed in it, could not think of anything else, our other sensations were effaced by it, we were pursued by the image continuing all through the next day, we were possessed by it, could not get rid of it, and all distractions were powerless as against it."
It is because of this disproportion that the impressions of infancy are so persistent; the mind being entirely new, ordinary objects and events are surprising to it,[1] According to Taine, the chief cause of the reproduction of an image is attention. "Whether attention be voluntary or involuntary, it always operates in the same way; the image of an object or an event is the more capable of revival or of complete resurrection in proportion as the object or event has been considered with greater attention" Taine's theory is applicable to the large majority of cases. Most of the earliest recollections relate to events which have attracted the child's attention by their intensity, their novelty, their action on the affections, or by numerous repetitions—facts, especially, which have evoked strong feelings—fear, terror, shame, lively joy, pain, grief, curiosity, self-love, antipathy, sympathy, etc. The first recollection, however, in some persons relates to a merely common fact, not particularly distinct from others, and which did not provoke any strong feeling, which is remembered with details; while important events which produced an impression on the child at the same period, as the parents relate, are not remembered at all. Such cases are few, and we can not explain them. It may be, as one of the subjects suggested, that the fact remembered only seems banal because it is not completely recollected, the striking elements having been forgotten.
Most of the earliest recollections relate to brief scenes. The impressive fact is generally clearly remembered to the minutest details, but it was only of an instant's or a few minutes' duration. An event of an hour or more is rarely remembered, or, if it is, there are gaps in the recollection.
As to the kind of mental images that constitute the recollection, the scene in the majority of cases is represented visually. The things, the colors, and the character of the light appear very clearly, but the personages are poorly set forth. The general form is seen, but few or no details of the figure, and sometimes it is not determined whether it is a man or a woman. Occasionally, however, the persons are clearly distinguishable, especially when they play an
- ↑ Intelligence, i, p. 35.
