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here a score 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 gl