in appearances, or at the most as signs revealing
and frequently laying bare the world of reality. He therefore finds no
solid support in perception. On the other hand, he scorns reasoned
thought, looking upon it as a cripple, halting half-way. He makes
neither deductions nor inductions, and does not draw conclusions after
the method of scientific hypotheses. The conclusion, then, is that he
imagines, i.e., that he realizes a construction in images that is for
him knowledge of the world; and he never proceeds, and does not proceed
here, save _ex analogia hominis_.

I

The root of the mystic imagination consists of a tendency to incarnate
the ideal in the sensible, to discover a hidden "idea" in every material
phenomenon or occurrence, to suppose in things a supranatural principle
that reveals itself to whoever may penetrate to it. Its fundamental
character, from which the others are derived, is thus a way of thinking
_symbolically_; but the algebraist also thinks by means of symbols, yet
is not on that account a mystic. The nature of this symbolism must,
then, be determined.

In doing so, let us note first of all that our images--understanding the
word "image" in its broadest sense--may be divided into two distinct
groups:

(1) _Concrete_ images, earliest to be received, being representations of
greatest power, residues of our perceptions, with which they have a
direct and immediate relation.

(2) _Symbolic_ images, or signs, of secondary acquirement, being
representations of lesser power, having only indirect and mediate
relations with things.

Let us make the differences between the two clear by a few simple
examples.

Concrete images are: In the visual sphere, the recollection of faces,
monuments, landscapes, etc.; in the auditory sphere, the remembrance of
the sounds of the sea, wind, the human voice, a melody, etc.; in the
motor sphere, the tossings one feels when resting after having been at
sea, the illusions of those who have had limbs amputated, etc.

Symbolic images are: In the visual order, written words, ideographic
signs, etc.; in the auditory order, spoken words or verbal images; in
the motor order, significant gestures, and even better, the
finger-language of deaf-mutes.

Psychologically, these two groups are not identical in nature. Concrete
images result from a persistence of perceptions and draw from the latter
all their validity; symbolic images result from a mental synthesis, from
an a