Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/56

 before we know what it is we see or hear, while nouns represent things outside of (?) us to which we lastly give names. The nouns which we learn after all others, and therefore forget soonest, are the names of persons, so that elderly people very commonly complain how (?) they can not recall persons’ names.”

Founded on some of the theories of memory, this is good reasoning; but it pushes back the mystery only a step. Why should this mechanism manifest a peculiar selective power over the different parts of speech? Why should the verb-cells be stronger than the noun-cells? Or if there be no actual verb-cells and noun-cells, why should the verb-impressions be deeper than the noun-impressions? Again, if they are not “impressions” but rather the functions of automatic cells fixed by habit, why should these functions wake up from the slumber of disease with a verb rather than a noun on their lips. After impairment, why should this gray matter resume its function with a selective