CHAPTER VIII.

ATTENTION.

HE first command in every military drill is, Company, attention. It is given first, and it emphasizes every subsequent command. The same command, sometimes an imperative duty, sometimes a silent persuasion, sometimes a fear or hope, precedes every evolution of thought. Rosenkranz says in his Pedagogics, "The conception of attention is the most important to Pedagogics of all those derived from Psychology." Dr. Carpenter in his Mental Physiology says, "The acquirement of this power, which is within the reach of every one, should be the primary object of all mental discipline." Tate says in his Philosophy of Education," So much depends upon the faculty of attention that its outlines should form a leading subject of practical education." Sir Isaac Newton attributes his success in scientific discovery to the power of prolonged attention. Others call attention the essential element in genius. Such expressions show the importance attached to the power of attention. In this respect there is no difference of opinion. But when we ask what attention is, the answers are various. Without attempting, however, to discuss the different answers given, let us examine the act itself, and try to gain a view of it that may be made the foundation for a truthful and consistent treatment of its place in the process of mental development. All are

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agreed that it involves the concentration of active mental energy. We say of one whose mind is divided amongst several subjects that he does not give attention to any one of them. But we also say of a listless child that he does not give attention. It is not necessary to know whether his mind is on something besides the subject presented or not; if he does not actively consider this subject he is not attending to it. To be attentive the mind must be active. But is activity attention, or only a condition of attention? We can not turn activities upon a subject unless there are activities. These must be stimulated first, to secure attention, whether the word is used to designate the activities, or only to denote a concentration of them upon one object.

2. A speaker has the attention of his audience when he has aroused their interest, and they think only of what he is saying. Is this called attention solely because a good degree of activity is aroused, or is it because we know that, in addition to this, every hearer must have many distracting suggestions come into the mind, which are all put aside to listen to the speaker? One activity may be so great as to absorb all the energy we possess and leave other activities without support. This is called involuntary or non-voluntary attention. But in this sense the word can scarcely be distinguished from discrimination and unification, and it has been treated of sufficiently, though not by name, under the Laws of these two subjects and of native energy.

3. But there is another form of attention, distinct from this. According to the principle of correlation activities. stimulated in different directions may be turned in other directions and thus concentrated upon one object. It is this power of directing or concentrating stimulated energy that needs separate treatment. It is the concen

tration of the activities of the mind by the power of the will.

4. The first Law of sequence places the development of voluntary attention after cognition and feeling. There must first be a cognition, this must excite a feeling, and the feeling produce a desire, which leads to a voluntary turning of the energies of the mind upon the object first exciting the activity of cognition. This increases the activities as they are again excited in their order, and they are again and again excited until the mind is clear in its understanding, and has done all it desires to do with the thought conceived. The teacher will see from this that, to gain attention, the intellectual powers must be appealed to by something that will excite thought. The emotions may be appealed to, and all the mental energy may be spent on them as non-voluntary attention without exciting the cognitions to any considerable extent; but if the self-directing energy of the mind is to be stirred, some form of interesting thought must be presented.

5. The teacher will further see, that, if he would economize his resources, he must avail himself of opportunities to gain the attention when he will have least to oppose in the form of other distracting things. The time when a class is most ready to give its attention is at the beginning of a recitation. The teacher should be prepared to seize upon this most favorable moment, and fix the attention at once upon some thought worthy to occupy the time, and then follow this by another and another, and not let the attention wander till the recitation is finished. When the attention flags from weariness, more of the emotional element in the way of something pleasing may be resorted to, care being always exercised not to lead the mind too far away from the subject. Sometimes it may be necessary to call back the attention from wander

ing by something very striking, even if it is not connected with the lesson, until the minds of all are brought into a condition subject to the teacher's will.

6. Sir William Hamilton illustrates his conception of attention by comparing it to a telescope, the parts of which are drawn to focusing distance from each other, and the telescope is turned to any particular point to be observed. First, one point in a field is thus examined, then another, and so on, until the whole field has been thoroughly explored. Recalling this illustration of the telescope, attention may be defined as the act of focusing the mind on a limited field of vision until every part is distinctly seen in its true relations to the whole field. Psychologically distinguished from abstraction, attention is its complement. By abstraction the mental energy is checked in its flow in a given direction, and by attention. the energies are continued in activity and turned unitedly in the direction determined upon by the mind.

LAW I.-ATTENTION ACCOMPANIES THE ACTIVITY OF EMOTION.

A

First Proof.-The experiences of life in proof of this Law are too common to need more than a reference. painful sensation at once unites all the energies of the mind upon the task of finding out the cause of pain or the means of relieving it. The effect begins in a reflex action, but there springs up immediately an intense and prolonged voluntary effort to distinguish the cause and find relief. Pleasurable sensations act in a similar manner to prolong the cause of pleasure.

Second Proof.-Sensations of pleasure and pain, by being prolonged in consciousness, have the double effect of holding the attention on one object and of accumulating

energy by the re-enforcement of new impulses. The attention is not only more constant but it is more intense; the mind is more energetic when we take pleasure in listening to an address than when the feelings are indifferent. The reader or speaker who has a pleasant voice, a commanding presence, and graceful manners, keeps the attention much more easily than one who has not these advantages, and an ordinary listener will receive greater. benefit from such a speaker because it is easier to follow him with attention.

OBSERVATIONS.

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(I.) Prof. Bain says, All the great teachers from Socrates downwards, seem to recognize the necessity of putting the learner into a state of pain to begin with; a fact that we are by no means to exult over, although we may have to admit the stern truth that is in it." This places pain as the first and lowest means used to arouse and fix the attention. The growth of infant consciousness teaches the same truth. The first breath is drawn with an infant cry, and many are the evidences of pain before the first manifestation of pleasure. The first appearance of distinct recognition a child shows is a manifestation of wonder, a feeling allied to pain rather than pleasure in its origin. As pain is the lowest stimulus to be used, other stimuli take its place as the mind develops; but so also, as the will degenerates and becomes degraded by indulging the passions, pain again is the last resort. It is the resort when all other stimuli have lost their effect. Let it be accepted, then, that pain is a legitimate stimulus of attention to compel the energies of the mind to turn toward a particular truth; but it is not to be used when other means are equally effective to secure the result.

S. E.-16.