Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 67.djvu/508

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

thought, for the sufficient reason that they are but one soul; and the unity of their heart-beat is inherent in the organism that gives them life. It is because the silent partner of our mental administration is only the sole head thereof under other guise, in other mood, with other, possibly more playful, occupation, that his dominant habits, interests, endowment, experiences pervade their common business. It is again because the one contributes to the joint undertaking, all unheard and unseen, that those who have intercourse with this concern, as indeed the director thereof himself, have little occasion to come into direct contact with influences and data that do not appear upon the books. It has been our present purpose to set forth, and mainly through the minor departures in thought and behavior, how constantly the subconscious participation permeates the entire network of the mental business. It is indeed the peculiar virtue of the abnormal method that it illuminates the rule through the exceptions; and here finds in lapses illustrations of significant principles that prevail in the normal, well-adjusted conduct of affairs.