And that this may be so, we have plain instances, even in mankind itself. Take one in whom decrepit old age has blotted out the memory of his past knowledge, and clearly wiped out the ideas his mind was formerly stored with, and has, by destroying his sight, hearing, and smell quite, and his taste to a great degree, stopped up almost all the passages for new ones to enter; or if there be some of the inlets yet half open, the impressions made are scarcely perceived, or not at all retained.
Eta hori horrela dela ikusteko gizakien artean ere badugu adibide argirik. Har dezagun gizaki bat zahartzaroko gainbeherak lehenagoko ezagupen guztien oroitzapena ezabatu diona, gogamena lehen ukaniko ideiarik gabe utziz eta, honez gain, ikusmena, entzumena eta usaimena erabat eta dastamena maila handi bateraino galdu dituelako, ideia berriak hartzeko bide guztiak utzi zaizkiona, edo, bide horietako batzuk oraindik erdi-irekirik dituela jota, eragiten zaizkion inpresioak ia hautematen ez dituena.