Page:Memory; how to develop, train, and use it - Atkinson - 1919.djvu/96



Before the memory can be stored with sight impressions—before the mind can recollect or remember such impressions—the eye must be used under the direction of the attention. We think that we see things when we look at them, but in reality we see but few things, in the sense of registering clear and distinct impressions of them upon the tablets of the subconscious mind. We look at them rather than see them.

Halleck says regarding this “sight without seeing” idea: “A body may be imaged on the retina without insuring perception. There must be an effort to concentrate the attention upon the many things which the world presents to our senses. A man once said to the pupils of a large school, all of whom had seen cows: ‘I should like to find out how many of you know whether a cow’s ears are above, below, behind, or in front of her horns. I 90