Chap. VII. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. in 



manner that I have explained above. The firfl: of thefc is common 

 to us with the brutes, the fecond is peculiar to us. 



This diftindion is as real as the diitindion hetw'ixi general and pc:r^ 

 tkuhir^ or betwixt the idea and the individual objed ; or, in other 

 words, betwixt what really exifls, and what has only an exifiencc in 

 the mind. And, that it is a full and compleat divifion, is evident 

 from this, that every thing in nature is either part'uidar or fr^ncral' 

 and there are no objeds with which the mind can be convcrfant, ex- 

 cept either objeds of fenfe, or objeds of intelled. Faculties, therefore, 

 that are exercifed upon objeds fo different, ought to be confidercd as 

 different faculties : And, accordingly, we fmd that the faculty which 

 operates upon particular objeds, whether fingle or compared together, 

 is common to us with the brutes ; whereas, the faculty which operates 

 upon generals^ whether fmgle, or in combination, is peculiar ta 

 man. 



The firfl kind of perception I mentioned, of particular objeds when 

 prefent, is well known by the name of fenje ov fen/at ion y as I would 

 chufe to call it ; for the viovd fenfe , I obferve, is ufed in different figni- 

 fications ; denoting, either the organ of fenfe, the impreflion which 

 bjdies make upon that organ, the adual perception of the mind ari- 

 fing from that imprefTion, which is what I chufe to diftinguiih by the 

 name of fen/ation ; and, laftly, the power or faculty which the 

 mind has to perceive in that way. And this is the meaning in which 

 I ufe the word fen/e. And I think it is of great advantage, in 

 matters of philofophical inquiry, to ule terms that are not ambiguous-, 

 and to diflinguifh by ivords things that are, in their natures^ dilUnd, 

 as the four things I have juff now mentioned certainly are : For, that 

 the organ of fenfe is different from the impreflion made upon it, bv 

 external objeds, no body can doubt ; and, to the philofopher it is as 

 evident that there is a difference betwixt the imprefhon of the objod 

 upon the organ, and the perception of the mind j for it often happens, 



that 



