Unconscious cerebration,
however wonderful, can only take effect upon elements already
acquired in some way or another. The subconscious cerebration of
a man blind from birth will not make him see colours."
Here, then, in this comparison which might easily be extended,
are several fairly well- defined features of resemblance. We
receive a vivid impression of the same habits, the same
contradictions, and the same eccentricities; and we once more
recognize the strange and majestic shadow of our unknown guest.
33
One great objection remains, based upon the very nature of the
phenomenon, upon the really inseparable distance that separates
the whole life of the horse from the abstract and impenetrable
life of numbers. How can his subliminal consciousness interest
itself for a moment in signs that represent nothing to him, have
no relation to his organism and will never touch his existence?
But in the first place, it is just the same with the child or the
illiterate calculator. He is not interested either in the figures
which he lets loose. He is completely ignorant of the
consequences of the problems which he solves. He juggles with
digits which have hardly any more meaning to him than to the
horse. He is incapable of accounting for what he does; and his
subconsciousness also acts in a sort of indifferent and remote
dream.
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