Nothing Leaves Us as It Found Us
By Anon.
If a sheet of paper on which a key has been laid exposed for some minutes to the sunshine, be then instantaneously viewed in the dark, the key being removed, a fading specter of the key will be visible. Let this paper be put aside for many months, where nothing can disturb it, and then in darkness be laid on a plate of hot metal, the specter will again appear. This is equally true of our minds. Every man we meet, every book we read, every picture or landscape we see, every word or tone we hear, leaves an image upon the brain. These traces, which under ordinary circumstances are invisible, never fade, but in the intense light of cerebral excitement start into prominence, just as the specter image of the key started into sight on the application of heat. It is thus with all the influences to which we are subjected.—Anon.