Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 15.djvu/80

 66 HENRY RUTGERS MARSHALL : of, say, my inkstand before me, very similar to the primary presentation of moment (1), and which we may represent by the symbol (4fl) Pl~2_34 5. this symbol differing from (1) only in the use of /3 instead of a over the P. In the fifth moment, if I had kept my eyes open, instead of p l, I should have experienced still another primary pre- sentation of very similar form, which we may represent by the symbol (5a) t 1 " 2 - 30 ^ 5 . Now we usually assume that in what we have described as the fourth and fifth moments, if my eyes are closed, I ex- perience images, or secondary presentations, as per symbols 4 and 5 ; but that if in those same moments I open my eyes I experience primary presentations as per symbols (4a) and (5a), instead of secondary presentations (4) and (5), which latter then cease to exist. But it appears highly improbable that such can really be the case ; and much more probable that in the fourth moment, in case I open my eyes, I have primary pre- sentation P 1 " 2 - 30 ^ 5, plus secondary presentation p l ~' 2 which I would have experienced alone had I kept my eyes closed. In fact, it would seem probable thaj; our common assumption, that when I open my eyes p l ~ 2 becomes non-existent, is entirely due to an illusion resulting from the fact that in subsequent reflexion the vividness of the primary presenta-

tion P 1 3 4 5 involves effects which entirely overwhelm the a coincident secondary presentation p l ~ 2 ; but do not obliterate it. But then we are led to go even farther than this : we must also assume that with the primary presentation of moment 1 there also existed a secondary presentation, which we however are unable to recognise in reflexion because of the effects of the superior vividness of the primary presenta- tion. In other words, we must believe that in the first moment, with open eyes, we have not P 1 ~ 2 - 3 4 5, but rather fa -v PI 2 _ 34 5 > a f > l ~ 2 _34 5 I