386 On Genius. 
further back im the investigation. The plea- 
surable or painful association, by which our 
minds are, on any occasion, affected, is itself 
dependent on a previous association; that, 
on a former One; and so on, the extent of 
the association being reduced at every step; 
till at last we must come, as I conceive, to 
that, which is the germ and nucleus of the 
whole system,—the radical impressions of 
pleasure and pain, received through the sen- 
ses in earliest infaney. What are our moral 
sentiments, when pursued through the va- 
rious ramifications into which they are spread, 
but certain strong and permanent associations 
with those radical perceptions of pleasure and 
pain,—of happiness and misery,— acquired, in 
the first instance, through the medinm of the 
senses? The rectitude of our moral senti- 
ments will depend on the bias given to the 
mind by education; but the strength of them— 
all that makes us feel deeply and conceive 
forcibly and act resolately—must arise from 
a strong association of pain and misery with 
one mude of conduct—of pleasure and hap- 
piness with another. The predominant asso- 
ciation, which gives a tone to the sentiments 
and détérmines the character, may have been 
produced by accident; but its influence, 
when formed, will depend on its strength ; 
