Western union. (City of Hannibal, Mo.) 1850-1851, 1851-01-09
Abstraction.
Observations and .amusing anecdotes, taken from,
an Essay By Dr.. Robert vcIntosh.

|
oonfoundsd with revsre, but II 10 10 reality q
disrsn. kind Of Intellectual operation; for AZ IN
the latter . difficulty 10 experienced in making
the miLd bear stroagly OF aby one point, in the
former lis whole energies are concentrated to-
wards o single focus, and every other cirouin-
stance Is ior the time utterly forgotten. Such
was the case with Sir lssAo Newton when he
made u 10 1accn stopper Of the lady's finger. and
with Archincds', who remained uncons cluus
aud uutnoved, during the noise und slaughter
OF captured Syrause. Though in general aO
sWact.,r Is easliybroken BY oui.arI inp,,st
lions, ,LvrD usye zen INSTANCES ~arr, t Ia,
lorUt. ~ pJH eii1... ~ Tcn.e. a. .,nuN ,u,,.,s
iaUvI,ns un.er NusensiU'e ~ pam. f,nel IN
: is .Voaographm PhtiOsophique speaks Of u
ries', """, IN t'f mental sbseucc, WAS un
!, CONSCIOUS o' 'ns pr Of OurnInk; unJ Cardan
joroughI hiinssh pIv such state a. tv ba IN en-.
''oia " all sAIsrhl impressions.
appears iroIn u .ussr, aiions Of the Edin.
Uuig phrenologists, Vat individuals WHO have
large development, the orguh OF concentra-
fueness, sre pebullsrl liable to fall int q state
oi abstraction. The iiect OF such a develop
'nsnt, 10 fixi,y Of ids.-ths power and tenden.
cy to think consecutel anu steadily upon one
subject. I'm oonvsang with some iudi.idu.
ais says DR.. Combs'we find them .all natur.
ally into connsctsdtrsln Of thinking; either
dwelling on supjsc which interests them, TIL
they have placed 1t carly before the mud or
Pas'ing naturally andsrscefully 10 connected
topic. Such person unifo. mly have this organ
large We meet vii others, who in similar
cIrcumstances, nevepursus one idea for two
consecutive seconds who shift from topic to
topic, without regsrdo natural connexion, and
leave no distinct imression ON the mind Of the
listener; and this hapens even with ind,, iduas
10 whom reflection not deficient; but this or.
gan (concentrstivenes) il IN such persons un.
Iformly SMALL A good epdow wment of The
power in question, ads very much TO the eli
cheney OF the intellsc, by enabling lis possess.
or, 10 apply his mindcontlnuousiy ~ a psrticu.
lar investigation, uuamoyec by tho intrusion Of
foreign and irrslsvan ideas. 1t seems to have
been very strong iE iir Isauc Newton, who,e
liability to abstractionhas aIread, been alluded
to. "Dnring the tw' years suys B,vt (which
he spent in preparing his immortal work, Phil
osopha, Na'uralis, Pinc,pia, Mathematics, he
lived only to o 'lculat and TO think. Offer tines
lost IN the contemplation Of these grand objects,
he acted unconsciVusS; his thoughts III psarine
10 preserve no connsxion with the ordinary al.
fsirs Of life. ]. it, said, that frequently. OH
rising in the morning he would sIt down on his
bedside, arrested by some new conception, and
would remain for hours together, engaged in
tracing it out, without dressing himself. To
one who askel him on one occasion how he
arrived al his discoveries, he replied, 'by al
ways thinking unto thsm.' Aud at another
time he thus expressed his method of proceed.
ing,-l keep the subject constantly before me,
and wait till tho first dawning opens slowly,
by little and little, into full and clear light
Again, in letter to DR.. Bently, hs says, "If I
have done the public any service this way, il
is due to nothing but industry and patient
thought" Blot mentions further, that in gen.
sral the intensity Of thinking was with him so
great, that it entirely abstrscted his attention
from other matters, and confined him exclusive o.
y to one object. Thus we see that he never
was occupied al the same time vi i,h two scien.
tiie Investigations.
The instances of Abstraction upon re.
cord are SO numerous that volume nigh
easily be filled with them. llngarth, the
illustrious painter, affords good specimen.
Having got new carriage, he went in it
to the Mason llolSc, for the purpose of
paying visit TO the Lord Mayor. On lea.
wing the house he went out by different
door from that by which he entered, and
found that i, rancd hard. Notwi,hstand-
ing this, he walked homewards, and reach.
ed his own dwelling drenched to the skin.
His wife seeing him in this state, asked him
how it happened, and what had become of
his carriage since he had not returned home
in it. The truth was that he had actually
forgotten he had carriage, or had gone in
one at oil.
The following case. from the pleasant
80 .l.,i tpyh; ;rk 4 l. N.~ll a..
der.
at is n case of one of the most profound
and clearheaded philosophical thinkers, and
one Of the most amiable of men, becoming
so completely absorbed in his own refec-
tions. as 10 lose the PERCEPTION of external
things, and almost that Of his own identity
ana existence. There ale few that have
paid an at,e.:ticn to ,ho finance Of this
country, but mu;l havc heard OF DR.. Rob.
ert Hamilton's sc ay Oh lie Na,;"na! debt
which fell on the houses of parliament like
a bombsheIl, or, rather, which rose and II.
Illuminated their darkness like an orient sun.
There are other writings of his in which
one knows not which most to admire-the
profound and accurate science. the bcau;-
tul arrangement, or the clear expression.
Yet, in public, the man was shadow; pul.
led off his hat to his own wife in the streets,
and aPologzed for not having the pleasure
OF her acquaintance went to his classes in
the college on the dark mornings, with one
of her white stockings on ths one leg. and
one Of his own black ones OH the other, OF.
ten spen, the whole time OF the meeting in
moving from the table the hats of the stu.
dents, wich they rs constantly returned /;
sometimes invited them to call on him, and
then fined them for coming to insult him.