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Show THE SOURCE OF INSPIRATION 1 , Preliminary Mental Work Has Its Subconscious Influence. "Inspiration Is generally the result of a piellmlnnry effort." So says n recent French writer, discussing some remarkable autobiographical passages from an article by Henri Polncnro, tho eminent French mntliumatlclnn. I Almost every one has noticed that after k'ufc mid fruitless mental effort ef-fort the tesiilt after which' one lias been sti'vlig will come to him suddenly sud-denly while he Is thinking of something some-thing else. The preliminary mental work hns borne Its fruit subconsciously. subcon-sciously. Polncare reports that ninny of his most abstruse mathematical discoveries discover-ies havo came to him In Just lids way. problem for two weeks, tho solution i came to him spontaneously nt night ' whllo he was trying to get to sleep; nnothor came to him while ho was entering nn omnibus, hi mind apparently ap-parently remote frum all 'nlhemt- lcnl thoughts. Again an Important conclusion forced Itself upon him "with brevity, suddenness nnd Imme- H dlato cortltude" while ho wa resting on tho boa ueach after a Ions period 'M of nppnrently futile cogitation. jt The striking part or all this Is the B appearance of spontuneous liiumlna-tlon, liiumlna-tlon, which may bo taken as the sign of long subconscious deliberation. Ex ' porlences of tho kind would appear to H bo very common with mathematicians, H nnd, Indeed, with all whoso work re- jH qulros.loug periods of moutal concen- H tratlon. jH |