And, on the other hand, there is no surer indication of a weak mind than the deficiency in Attention.  This weakness may arise from illness or physical weakness reacting upon the brain, in which case the trouble is but temporary.  Or it may arise from a lack of mental development.  Imbeciles and idiots have little or no Attention.  The great French psychologist, Luys, speaking of this fact, says “Imbeciles and idiots see badly, hear badly, feel badly, and their sensorium is, in consequence, in a similar condition of sensitive poverty.  Its impressionability for the things of the external world is at a minimum, its sensibility weak, and consequently, it is difficult to provoke the physiological condition necessary for the absorption of the external impression.”

In old age the Attention is the first faculty to show signs of decay.  Some authorities have held that the Memory was the first faculty to be affected by the approach of old age, but this is incorrect, for it is a matter of common experience that the aged manifest a wonderfully clear memory of events occurring in the far past.  The reason that their memory of recent events is so poor is because their failing powers of Attention has prevented them from receiving strong, clear mental impressions, and as is the impression so is the memory.  Their early impressions having been clear and strong, are easily recalled, while their later ones, being weak, are recalled with difficulty.  If the Memory were at fault, it would be difficult for them to recall any impression, recent or far distant in time.

But we must stop quoting examples and authorities, and urging upon you the importance of the faculty of Attention.  If you do not now realize it, it is because you have not given the subject the Attention that you should have exercised, and further repetition would not remedy matters.

Admitting the importance of Attention, from the psychological point of view, not to speak of the occult side of the subject, is it not a matter of importance for you to start in to cultivate that faculty?  We think so.  And the only way to cultivate any mental or physical part or faculty is to Exercise it.  Exercise “uses up” a muscle, or mental faculty, but the organism makes haste to rush to the scene additional material—­cell-stuff, nerve force, etc., to repair the waste, and it always sends a little more than is needed.  And this “little more,” continually accruing and increasing, is what increases the muscles and brain centers.  And improved and strengthened brain centers give the mind better instruments with which to work.

One of the first things to do in the cultivation of Attention is to learn to think of, and do, one thing at a time.  Acquiring the “knack” or habit of attending closely to the things before us, and then passing on to the next and treating it in the same way, is most conducive to success, and its practice is the best exercise for the cultivation of the faculty of Attention.  And on the contrary, there is nothing more harmful from the point of view of successful performance—­and nothing that will do more to destroy the power of giving Attention—­than the habit of trying to do one thing while thinking of another.  The thinking part of the mind, and the acting part should work together, not in opposition.