Fatigue

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G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1904 - 334 pages
 

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Page 273 - There seems to be a sort of fatality in my mind leading me to put at first my statement or proposition in a wrong or awkward form. Formerly I used to think about my sentences before writing them down ; but for several years I have found that it saves time to scribble in a vile hand whole pages as quickly as I possibly can, contracting half the words ; and then correct deliberately. Sentences thus scribbled down are often better ones than I could have written deliberately.
Page 274 - I spend a good deal of time over the general arrangement of the matter. I first make the rudest outline in two or three pages, and then a larger one in several pages, a few words or one word standing for a whole discussion or series of facts. Each one of these headings is again enlarged and often transferred before I begin to write in extenso.
Page 275 - At 9'3o he came into the drawing-room for his letters — rejoicing if the post was a light one and being sometimes much worried if it was not. He would then hear any family letters read aloud as he lay on the sofa. The reading aloud, which also included part of a novel, lasted till about half-past ten, when he went back to work till twelve or a quarter past. By this time he considered his day's work over, and would often say, in a satisfied voice, u I've done a good day's work.
Page 272 - Nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr. Butler's school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else being taught, except a little ancient geography and history. The school as a means of education to me was simply a blank.
Page 18 - From the foregoing remarks it seems probable that some actions, which were at first performed consciously, have become through habit and association converted into reflex actions, and are now so firmly fixed and inherited...
Page 272 - ... mathematics. My memory is extensive, yet hazy: it suffices to make me cautious by vaguely telling me that I have observed or read something opposed to the conclusion which I am drawing, or, on the other hand, in favour of it; and after a time I can generally recollect where to search for my authority. So poor in one sense is my memory, that I have never been able to remember for more than a few days a single date or a line of poetry. Some of my critics have said, "Oh, he is a good observer, but...
Page 180 - In my own case I have observed that great muscular fatigue takes away all power of attention and weakens the memory. I have made several ascents. I have been once on the summit of Monte Viso and twice on that of Monte Rosa, yet I do not remember anything of what I saw from those summits. My recollection of the incidents of the ascents becomes more and more dim in proportion to the height attained. It seems that the physical conditions of thought and memory become less favorable as the blood is poisoned...
Page 85 - ... the leg. The contraction, upon being repeated a great number of times, becomes more and more feeble. This diminution of energy is not to be attributed to the dissipation of some explosive substance, so to speak, in the muscle, that is to say, of the substance capable of giving rise to contractions. In fact, the muscle will still continue to contract for a long time, but no stimulus will produce a contraction so strong as the first ones. The lack of energy in the movements of a weary man depends,...
Page 210 - Goethe has likewise pointed out the effect of debility upon vision: "In passing from bright daylight to a dusky place we distinguish nothing at first; by degrees the eye recovers its susceptibility: strong eyes sooner than weak ones ; the former in a minute, while the latter may require seven or eight minutes.

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