When, for instance, a sheet of rubber is pulled
at its four corners, a unit of rubber in the middle
of the sheet is affected by all four of the
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pulls. It _transmits_ them each, as if it pulled in
four different ways at once itself. So, an air-
particle or an ether-particle 'compounds' the
different directions of movement imprinted on
it without obliterating their several individualities.
It delivers them distinct, on the contrary,
at as many several 'receivers' (ear, eye or what
not) as may be 'tuned' to that effect. The apparent
paradox of a distinctness like this surviving
in the midst of compounding is a thing
which, I fancy, the analyses made by physicists
have by this time sufficiently cleared up.
But if, on the strength of these analogies, one
should ask: "Why, if two or more lines can run
through one and the same geometrical point,
or if two or more distinct processes of activity
can run through one and the same physical
thing so that it simultaneously plays a role
in each and every process, might not two or
more streams of personal consciousness include
one and the same unit of experience so that it
would simultaneously be a part of the experience
of all the different minds?" one would be
checked by thinking of a certain peculiarity by
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which phenomena of consciousness differ from
physical things.
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