# A Handbook of Phrenotypics for Teachers and Students/Given Notions—phantoms or Sprung-up Notions.—Associating Notions

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GIVEN NOTIONS—PHANTOMS OR SPRUNG-UP NOTIONS.—ASSOCIATING NOTIONS.
When one familiar notion is put before the mind, it makes immediately rise before the same mind a greater or less number of properties and circumstances particularly belonging to and connected with that notion. The first notion I will call the given notion. The notions that rise before the imagination subsequently to the brain having been acted upon by the given notion, I will call the sprung-up notions, or the phantoms, owing their existence to the action of that given notion.
​The number of these phantoms is the greater, the greater the degree of familiarity of the given notion; this is the very essence of familiarity of a notion;—e.g. I put before my mind the notion, my watch—this given highly familiar notion will immediately make rise before my imagination a host of phantoms, thus:—
The number of these phantoms will amount, perhaps, to some thousands—the degree of familiarity being very great.
Now I put before my mind the notion, Mr. Cassini, the name of the gentleman from whom I yesterday received a letter: he wishes to know when a new class will commence. I know nothing more about him; his name will make rise before my imagination but a couple of phantoms, the degree of familiarity being very small.
Before I proceed, I will formulize here my hypothesis enunciated above under the head of noticing, thus:—Just as in the physical world we notice but some of the notions that stand before our senses, so in the mental world we notice but some of the phantoms that stand before the imagination. ​The being or not being noticed, will depend upon the peculiar state of mind of the individual, which state of mind is the result of all the circumstances composing his past life.
When two familiar notions are put before the mind, one of the two following mental sceneries will make its appearance:
* I.
(By A and B I designate the two given familiar notions; by a, b, c, d, e, &c., I designate the phantoms owing their birth to A; by p, q, r, s, t, &c., I designate the phantoms owing their birth to B.)
* or, II.
(The same designation of letters; the cross designating a phantom appearing among those owing their birth to A, and also among those owing their birth to B.)
​The phantoms, or what is the same thing, the sprung-up notions, a, b, c, d, &c., are properties and circumstances peculiar to and connected with A only.
The phantoms, or what is the same thing, the sprung-up notions, p, q, r, s, t, &c., are properties and circumstances peculiar to and connected with B only.
The phantom, or what is the same thing, the sprung-up notion, cross x, is a property belonging to, or a circumstance connected with, both A and B.
Each of the phantoms, a, b, c, d, e, &c., p, q, r, s, t, &c., appears in consequence of having been heaved out from the abyss of nothingness, and erected before the imagination by one only of the two given notions, by A or by B. The phantom cross, appears in consequence of having been heaved out from the abyss of nothingness, and erected before the imagination by the combined power of both the two given notions, by A and by B.
Any phantom, which like the phantom cross x owes its birth to the two given notions, I will call a common phantom, or a common sprung-up notion. Let me illustrate this by an example:—
I put before the mind of one of my youngest pupils the two familiar notions to him, (A) reptile and (B) column. Reptile makes jump up before his mind a host of reptiles he has seen pictured in his little book. Column makes jump up before his mind a host of columns he has seen in London; there will rise no common phantom, i.e. ​any of the risen reptiles or columns will owe their birth to one only of the two given notions. Now I put the same notion before my mind, and I find that among the phantoms brought forward by reptile, (viz. among a host of lizards, crocodiles, plagiaries, pirates, calumniators, &c.) I notice the sandy plains round Alexandria in Egypt, where I have seen more reptiles than any where else; I notice also among a host of phantoms owing their birth to column, (viz., among the Bourse of Paris, Regent's Quadrant, Drury Lane Theatre, &c.) I notice the same sandy plain round Alexandria in Egypt, where I have seen the most ancient of all columns, Pompey's Pillar.
The mental scenery of my pupil is of the kind I; there is no common phantom.
My mental scenery is of the kind II; there is a common phantom.
Such common phantoms are peculiarly privileged. Out of the two hosts of phantoms a, b, c, d, &c.,
p, q, r, s, &c., but few will be noticed; but what is certain is, that the common phantom cross x will be noticed in preference to the rest. This I account for thus:—each of the phantoms a, b, c, d, &c., is launched upon the imagination by one only of the given notions, viz. by A or by B; while the common phantom cross x is launched upon the imagi-nation by the combined power of A and B. In the above-mentioned example, the sandy plain round ​Alexandria, in Egypt, has the privilege of being noticed in preference to all the crocodiles, lizards, plagiaries, pirates, calumniators, &c., Bourse of Paris, Regent's Quadrant, Drury Lane Theatre, &c., on account of each of them having been launched upon my imagination by the power of one only of the two given notions—viz., by reptile or by column; while the sandy plain round Alexandria in Egypt has been launched upon my imagination by the combined power of the two given notions, reptile and column.
(Teachers will multiply such illustrations.)
As an illustration, let me adduce the following simile.—Suppose I had two boxes, one before my right and the other before my left hand: in each of these boxes there is one million of small cards, with a series of numbers from 1 to 1,000,000 written upon them. Now having well shuffled the cards in each box, I will take with each of my hands from its respective box as many cards as that hand can contain,—say a thousand. Two cases may take place, viz.—