St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-12-21
DO YOU COMPREHEND ?
What Ono Dollar, a Day or o Mile
Really Means.
Inability of the Human Mind to Really
Comprehend the EiEness Of Things
Ono Doesn't Know Much,
After All.

In the East Tennessee mountains
lives man in middle life who no,
long ago went twelve miles away from
home. 1t was the first time in his
life he had ever taken SO long a jour.
ncy, and on his return he wondered ii
the world was as big the other way rs
it was that way!
To all Of us that is laughable; yet
little things constantly occur, IL we
would but notice them, which ought to
take away our conceit abou. our great
attainmcnts. 1t would not be difficult
to show that the educated mind OF
average Intelligence, with all the
training it gets from school and COL
lege. has but a feeble comprehension
of the real bigness Of things. We
think in figures after We pass beyond
a very few units in distance. in time,
in money, in weight, and so on. For
instance, take length OF time as test.
Suppose the person thinks of dura-
tion of one hour so that he can meas
ure il off in his mind with a true sense
OF the value OF each part of it, SO that
he stretches his mind over it
and comprehcnds 1t, in the ex-
sst chronological sense OF the
word comprehend" We will agree
that the mind is big enough and
tenacious enough to comprehend one
hour. But suppose that the person is
asked to extend his comprehension to
ten hours. Let any one who is per-
fcctly candid try the experiment. and
il will be strange if he does not admit
that he is less able to stretch his mind
over this longer period Of duration.
and to give to each minute of it its full
value. compared with every other
minute. He will more likely find that
he thinks ten hours as mathematically
ten times one hour. but will not
stretch out his mind with an accurate
sense Of covering ten more units than
that of his first comprehension.
So with a week compared with q
day. Itmay fairly be doubted whether
there is u general comprehension of a
week as seven times longer than day.
in the sense that the mind stretches
over it and perceives the re ative
length of the duration; but tho mind
rests on the mathematical knowledge
that seven times one is seven. When
il comes to months and years, the per-
ceptions of comparative length fade
a@ay into a vagueness which is only
relieved by the fixing Of dates and by
reliance upon figures as multiples of a
comprehcnded unit, rather than by an
adequate comprehension OF the total.
Probably most minds can really COM
prehend but an exceedingly limited
time with any just sense Of proper
ton.
Again. take an illustration from the
familiar American standard. the dol
lar. Let any one think how it looks
in his own mind. and see il the fourth
quarter is as big to his comprehension
ms the first. or IL the whole in all its
parts is so accurately comprchended
that the tenth dime is as big as the
first The inability of the mind to
cover values OF large amount is easily
illustrated by bargains i'm trade. The
sum is not fixed on a margin of even
dollars. in all except small transac-
tions, but on even fives or tens. As
the sum increases, the bargain turns
upon fifties. hundreds or thousands
Tho mind does not comprehend nor
estimate the limits OF value as sharply
Gs in smaller transactions. The
Engiishman thinks in pounds ster-
ling where the American thinks in
dollars, and uses the multiples of fif-
tics. hundreds or thousands In large
transactions as does the American.
Yet the variation in the two cases is
not parallel. because the dollar is not
TO the pound as an even five or ten. or
multiple of them. 1t shows that the
mind really does not accurately esti-
mate the differences which it nominal
" recognizes.
The same littleneso OF educated, in
teliigent mind appears in estimates OF
distance. We do not half comprehend
what are matters of current informa-
ton and statement with US. Let q
rerson stretch his mind over dis
lance. say few inches. and cut OF a
piece of string Of that length. Tnen.
with that as unit. but being careful
not to think of it in inches at all, let
him attempt to cut of another piece
three or four times the length of the
uuit Unless he is trained TO watch
fulness. he will be very likely to find
that his mind is not big enough to
compare accurately the greater length