90 Rev. James WILLs on accidental Association. 
consideration. Let us consider the results. The whole idea, at the assumed 
instant, is a single whole apprehension ; a picture (as it were) composed of a 
remarkable scene with two persons in it. According to the hypothesis, all being 
strange, are free from the interference of other associations, and each proper to 
the combination in which it is found. Thus we have the main elements of a sin- 
gle state of apprehension, and, however subsequent attention may alter it, it is, so 
far as the assumption goes, one idea. Let us suppose it immediately removed ; 
the spectator may be supposed to pass on. Now, abstracting certain circum- 
stances, such as the time, the excursion, the business, any of which would ordina- 
rily lead to the recollection of such an incident, there will, according to the strict 
assumption, be no means whereby the supposed idea should again recur. Such a 
recurrence must be the result of some instrumentality, and, excepting by means 
of some relation of incident, or some inference of reason, theory has assigned 
none. 
Now let it be supposed that one of the two strangers is met elsewhere. The 
first effect depends on a primary law of the mind which admits of no explanation, 
but will at once be understood by the term “recognition.”* He will be recog- 
nized strictly under the character in which he first appeared, as the constituent 
part of a whole state of apprehension. He must be recognized, not merely in his 
personal character, but as he was (according to hypothesis) seen,—a distinct feature 
of an impressive scene. The recognition must, therefore, bring with it the other 
parts of the same one idea ; the whole field of apprehension instantly emerges 
from the past. The person seen is part of an idea, in the same sense as if it 
were a picture, and the whole comes back, because the whole of an idea is (pri- 
marily) affected by every part ; it is by a separate process, or by succeeding im- 
pressions, they can be divided, and the combination dissolved. 
Let us now vary the assumption, and suppose the place only strange, and the 
person familiarly known, and frequently met in many places. The consequence 
of this new assumption would be, that the recurrence of the place would bring 
* If we assume this elementary faculty to arise from a tendency of the mind to resume a pre- 
vious state, it will explain the fact, and agree with all the statements of this Essay. But it is an 
assumption purely empirical, and goes far beyond any result of legitimate inquiry. 
+ There is not a statement in this Essay respecting which some perplexing question may not be 
asked. Iam not, however, engaged in explaining elementary facts, but in tracing laws of operation. 
