No grown man
makes quite so definite mental images as does a child; when the mind ages
it thinks stronger thoughts in vaguer pictures. The young mind of Dr.
Holmes has less intellectual imagination than intelligent fancy. For
example: 'If you ever saw a crow with a king-bird after him, you will get
an image of a dull speaker and a lively listener. The bird in sable
plumage flaps heavily along his straightforward course, while the other
sails round him, over him, under him, leaves him, comes back again,
tweaks out a black feather, shoots away once more, never losing sight of
him, and finally reaches the crow's perch at the same time the crow
does;' but the comparison goes on after this at needless length, with
explanations. Again: 'That blessed clairvoyance which sees into things
without opening them: that glorious licence which, having shut the door
and driven the reporter from the keyhole, calls upon Truth, majestic
Virgin! to get off from her pedestal and drop her academic _poses_.' And
this, of the Landlady: 'She told me her story once; it was as if a grain
that had been ground and bolted had tried to individualise itself by a
special narrative.' 'The riotous tumult of a laugh, which, I take it, is
the mob-law of the features.
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