ATTENTION 177
relaxation, and is one of the surest indications of the present status of the character.
It is obvious that the orator should, if possible, secure for his message the spontaneous attention of his hearers. His message may, to be sure, be opposed to some very pro nounced inclinations of theirs, and this is very frequently the case with the preacher. When this is so he has a serious difficulty to overcome. His objective may, indeed, be to effect a profound change in their inclinations. This sets the supreme problem for the orator, and it calls for a skill in the application of psychological principles which amounts to a high art. How shall he secure the spontaneous attention of his hearers, which requires him to present his message so as to appeal to some inclination of theirs, when the message itself opposes some of their strong inclinations? The only way is to stimulate some inclination not opposed to the mes sage so effectively that it will overflow their consciousness with the corresponding feelings and submerge the opposing inclinations. This is the noblest function of the great art of illustration ; and of almost if not quite equal value is the dramatic art. By the skilful use of these arts the message may be clothed in forms which enable it to hold the spon taneous attention, even if otherwise it would be uninterest ing or positively repellent. The remarkable cultivation and effective use in recent years of the art of story-telling for the moral and religious instruction of the young is a most striking testimony to the soundness of this homiletical prin ciple secure the spontaneous attention of the hearer.
IV. Its scope. Many experiments have been conducted to determine how many objects can be attended to at the same time, and apparently very different conclusions have been reached by different psychologists. Some of them maintain that but one single object can stand in the focus at a given instant; others that as many as six objects can be attended to at once. 1 But there is some lack of clearness in
1 See Tichenor s " Text-book of Psychology," pp. 287 ff.
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