323 On Infinites. 



before him. It is true, that we can have no idea of infinite 

 space, if it is necessary that such au idea should be a sensi- 

 ble species, a phantasm, or even an intelligible species 

 floating in the mind. Bui this doctrine, notwithstanding the 

 vast authority by which it was sustained, is now almost en- 

 tirely exploded : and after the main structure has been 

 overthrown, it seems as if no one need hesitate to cast the 

 fragments out of the way. According to the new and prob- 

 ably correct doctrine of ideas, we may be said to have an 

 idea or ideas of any thing respecting which we can with 

 certainty make either a positive or negative assertion. Our 

 ideas of a complex subject may be incomplete, and even 

 some of them erroneous: but by this circumstance the title 

 of those that are correct to the name of ideas, cannot be 

 forfeited. If we are listening to the description of a miner- 

 al, and are told that it is not like a diamond, we then have 

 a negative idea respecting It: we know what it Is not, yet 

 from this information we do not know what it is. And if 

 We are told that it is not like an emerald, this gives us only 

 an additional nega'ive idea ; and so all the account that can 

 be given respecting it, which merely enables us to know that 

 it differs from other things, while it gives us no insight into 

 its real qualities, is entirely negative. But it is worthy of 

 remark, that the very name mineral, under which the ac- 

 count is given, conveys to us a poshive idea. The asser- 

 tions that it is not like a diamond or an emerald, are not in 

 their widest sense stilctly true- We perceive that like the 

 diamond and the emerald it is solid and visible; and these 



percf ptions are positive. A^ain, if w^e are told that it is not 

 ppaque, the expression, though given in the negative form, 

 conveys to us a positive idea : we see at once that it is 

 translucent. Translucency or opacity biding the property 

 of all minerals whatever, the terms, as well as the meanings 

 which they properly convey, like the terms of an algebraic 

 equation, may be either negative or positive, that circum- 

 stance being entirely dependent on the situation which they 

 hold in the sentence. It is needless to add another of the 

 numerous instances that occur of a similar description. In 

 all cases wh- re the negative ideas are restricted to a certain 

 number^ and all but one are given ; that is, if we know that 

 a thing, circumstance, or property, is comparable or identi- 

 cal whh one of a number of other things, circumstances or 



