第六章
法则例证之四
本章的目的，是论述“焦点意识有竞争”这一原则。前章在证明“推移是渐进”的时候，已经涉及人类活动的各方面，举了种种例子，所以本章所要说的事实，也可以说大体在上一章中得到了证明，而这里之所以要特设一章，是因为这个问题很有趣味，颇能引起我们的兴趣。这种竞争，拿短时间内的个人意识加以考察解剖时，便可以清楚地看到真相。当一个F住于意识的波头时，继F而起的F′，纷至沓来，数量极多，并试图取而代之。
有时，F的联想所到之处，在性质上、在形式上，或在抽象的关系上，都聚集在一起，相互推搡着，由识末而向上扩张，犹如水底的瓦斯，争先恐后地冲出水面化为泡沫；有时，体内脏器的刺激，如胃痛、空腹饥饿，拉屎撒尿之感，忽而压倒别的事物而称霸于意识的顶点；有时，身外周边的事物，如炭火之热、墨汁之色、树梢之风、天日之丽、地壳之纹等，森罗万象，向我聚拢过来，强要引起我的注意；当聚精会神读书时，忽然被臭虫所叮咬而吃了一惊，这无异于臭虫占领了意识的天下；当一心一意在思考时，突为奔马所惊扰，这就是让奔马占据了意识的天下。似这样，我们的意识界就像一个不停歇的修罗场，群魔乱舞、争雄称霸，不可或止。
一个时代的风潮也是如此，文学界的思潮流派也是此起彼伏。19世纪初期出现于文学界的浪漫派、古典派两派之争，即是此种现象中饶有兴味者。尤其是其论争作为自然的反响而出现于小说，我在这一特殊方面曾有所研究，更觉得很有意思。在小说中可以举出两个例子。一是盖斯凯尔夫人的《克兰弗镇》，一是萨克雷的《钮可谟一家》。
《克兰弗镇》中有这样一段：
“When the trays reappeared with biscuits and wine，punctually at a quarter to nine，there was conversation，comparing of cards，and talking over tricks； but by and by Captain Brown sported a bit of literature.
‘Have you seen any numbers of The Pickwick Papers？’ said he.（They were then publishing in parts.）‘Capital thing！’
Now Miss Jenkyns was daughter of a deceased rector of Cranford； and，on the strength of a number of manuscript sermons，and a pretty good library of divinty，considered herself literary，and looked upon any coversation about books as a challenge to her.So she answered and said，‘Yes，she had seen them； indeed，she might say she had read them.’
‘And what do you think of them？’ exclaimed Captain Brown.‘Aren’t they famously good？’
So urged，Miss Jenkyns could not but speak.
‘I must say，I don’t think they are by any means equal to Dr.Johnson.Still，perhaps，the author is young.
Let him persevere，and who knows what he may become if he will take the great Doctor for his model.’ This was evidently too much for Captain Brown to take placidly，and I saw the words on the tip of his tongue before Miss Jenkyns had f inished her sentence.
‘It is quite a different sort of thing，my dear madam，’ he began.
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