The principles of psychology . the systematic consideration of like cases by the REASONING. 347 scientific investigator, and may lead to the noticing of min an abstract way. Certainly this is obvious; and noconclusion is left to us but to assert that, after the fewmost powerful practical and aesthetic interests, our chiefhelp towards noticing those special characters of phenom-ena, which, when once possessed and named, are used asreasons, class names, essences, or middle terms, is thisassociation by similarity. Without it, indeed, the deliberateprocedure of the scientific man would be impossib
The principles of psychology . the systematic consideration of like cases by the REASONING. 347 scientific investigator, and may lead to the noticing of min an abstract way. Certainly this is obvious; and noconclusion is left to us but to assert that, after the fewmost powerful practical and aesthetic interests, our chiefhelp towards noticing those special characters of phenom-ena, which, when once possessed and named, are used asreasons, class names, essences, or middle terms, is thisassociation by similarity. Without it, indeed, the deliberateprocedure of the scientific man would be impossible: hecould never collect his analogous instances. But it oper-ates of itself in highly-gifted minds without any delibera-tion, spontaneously collecting analogous instances, unitingin a moment what in nature the whole breadth of space andtime keeps separate, and so permitting a perception ofidentical points in the midst of different circumstances,which minds governed wholly by the law of contiguitycould never begin to attain*.. Fig. Figure 80 shows this. If m, in the present representa-tion A, calls up B, C, D, and E, which are similar to A inpossessing it, and calls them up in rapid succession, thenm, being associated almost simultaneously with such vary-ing concomitants, will roll out and attract our separatenotice. 848 PSYCHOLOGY. If SO mucli is clear to the reader, he will be willing toadmit that the mind in ivhich this mode of association mostprevails will, from its better opportunity of extricatingcharacters, be the one most prone to reasoned thinking;whilst, on the other hand, a mind in which w^e do notdetect reasoned thinking will probably be one in whichassociation by contiguity holds almost exclusive sway. Geniuses are, by common consent, considered to differfrom ordinary minds by an unusual development of associa-tion by similarity. One of Professor Bains best strokes ofwork is the exhibition of this truth.* It applies to geniusesin the line of reasoning as well as i
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