The question asked in the headline may sound odd to you if you have never taken the trouble to give the subject serious thought, but I venture the broad statement that you are not able to answer the question "offhand."' It is an admitted fact, I must confess, that the eye is the "organ of vision," yet there is but little doubt, even in the minds of opticians and physiologists, that the phenomenon of "seeing" is chiefly mental — in other words, that it is the mind and not the eye that sees." How often have you seen a friend who seemingly was engaged in looking intently at some object on the table, at the opposite side of the room, or at some picture, who on being aroused from his day dream would confess that he was "looking at nothing in particular." The explanation of the fact that he saw "nothing in particular" is plain enough if properly set forth. It is because his mind was busy with other times and scenes.
Faces, bits of wayside scenery, etc., were being presented to view in the panorama of the mind, and the "mind's eye"— or mental vision — was engaged in eagerly scanning pictures of impressions made thereon months, years, or scores of years before. Another test of this mind vision theory is to shut your eyes tightly and then ply the brain to the task of recalling faces and forms that have not been seen by the eye for years. And, again, if you want to know whether your companion looked at his watch with his brain or his eyes, ask him the time of day after he puts the timepiece in his pocket.— St. Louis Republic.
