of different flowers and plants
are displayed. If your thoughts are intently on your errand you may
glance in, see flowers, color, perhaps a riot of colors only--and
beauty; and you feel a glow of pleasure from the sight. But a moment
later you cannot name the blooms in the window. Perhaps roses come to
mind because you have very special feeling for them; or carnations, or
sweet peas. But the window as a whole you perceive only as flowers, and
color, and beauty. You cannot describe it in detail, for you gave it
only passive attention.

But if you went to that window to know its contents; to find out what
the florist had in his shop, because you are very interested in all
flowers and plants, then you can tell minutely what is there. You had a
purpose in perceiving the window; your will held attention upon each
object in turn; and your love of flowers (an emotion) eased the effort
of volition when it might have tired.

Perception, then, is of three kinds: passive, incited by interest, and
directed by will. And the perception which is the basis of accurate
knowledge is one of keen interest, or of will, or of interest plus will.

TRAINING PERCEPTION

The nurse who demands of herself that she perceive accurately paves the
way for accurate, deft service in her profession. There are constant
means at hand for training in the art. Suppose you try to get so
definite a picture of each ward or room you enter, in a swift but
attentive examination of its furnishings and their locations, and of the
patients, that you can reproduce it to yourself or a friend some days
later.

You come into a large ward, with a row of beds on either side of the
door, and a wide central space between. How many beds in each row? There
is a table at the far end of the room, opposite the door, and a nurse in
white is writing there. Why does she wear white? What is her name? To
your right is a closet-like room opening from the ward. That is a
medicine-room, you are told. How many windows has the ward? You glance
from bed to bed with a rapid passing in review of the patients. Which
ones seem to you very ill? There is a large white screen about one. You
are told that when treatments are given the screen is put there, or that
when a patient is dying the bed is screened. You look for the
ventilators, and see how many are open and how they work. You see a
room-thermometer, and ask at what temperature it is kept. The nurse
explains that a certain degree i