CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



In those aggregate notions above referred to, 

 where one object strikes several senses, besides 

 having associated properties not always present 

 to the view, there is great room for identity in the 

 midst of difference. An orange is identified with 

 other round bodies having all else different ; with 

 soft bodies, with sweet bodies, with things that 

 putrefy, &c. In all these identities, which form 

 our popular classifications, we must encounter 

 a multitude of points of dissimilarity. But the 

 discording elements have a tendency to prevent 

 the likeness from being seized ; they obstruct the 

 revival of the past by the force of the present, 

 and then it is that we note the superiority of some 

 intellects to others in the endowment of recalling 

 similars surrounded with diverse accompaniments. 



The process of Reasoning demands the identi- 

 fying operation at every stage. Whether it be to 

 constitute a general principle, by what is called 

 Induction, as when we assemble the instances of 

 rivers depositing silt, and form a general proposi- 

 tion, 'all rivers leave mud-deposits ;' or to apply a 

 principle to a new case, which is Deduction, as 

 when we say of some newly discovered river, that 

 it is sure to contain bars, deltas, or other alluvial 

 deposits we need the help of the reviving force 

 of similarity. The instances that are to form the 

 inductive generalisation have been encountered at 

 different periods, and lie scattered over our mental 

 history; and some power is requisite to resusci- 

 tate the whole of them into one array, for the pur- 

 pose of comparing them to discover the points of 

 agreement or concurrence. So, in deduction, we 

 must have the same kind of attraction of like for 

 like when we recover from our stock of general 

 principles the one suitable to the case in hand. 

 In reasoning from analogy, the application of the 

 same associating force is still more apparent. 



The identification of lightning with the spark 

 of an electrical machine, is another example of 

 the same uncommon force of intellectual percep- 

 tion. 



In the able administration of private business 

 and public affairs, we shall be able to detect the 

 workings of the identifying intellect. When a 

 present emergency is exactly like a previous one, 

 it recalls that one without difficulty, and is treated 

 as that was treated ; when it corresponds exactly 

 to no previous one, a parallel must be sought from 

 some remote quarter where the common-place 

 mind would never bring about a stroke of re- 

 covery. When the difficulty of carrying a pipe of 

 water across the bottom of the Clyde was pre- 

 sented to James Watt, he recalled to his view the 

 jointed back of the lobster as a structure resem- 

 bling the one sought Such fetches of identifica- 

 tion among things so remote from one another, 

 and so different in everything else, exemplify what 

 is termed ' genius/ ' originality,' ' inventiveness,' 

 which attributes turn in a very great degree upon 

 the power we are now considering. 



In Literature, corresponding examples might be 

 produced in the Teatest abundance. All the 

 similes, metaphors Analogies, illustrative compari- 

 sons, which give both clearness and force to com- 

 position, are struck out by the might of similarity. 

 The greatest genius is he that can bring together 

 from great remoteness these similitudes. Shak- 

 speare has surpassed all poets in this respect, and 

 the prose of Lord Bacon is full of the same class 

 of identifications. In the other Fine Arts, the 



344 



same power comes into play to give originality tc 

 the artist's creations. 



While contiguity leads to routine, and to the 

 arranging of things as they happen to be in 

 nature by mere juxtaposition ; similarity breaks 

 through juxtaposition, and brings together like 

 objects from all quarters. It is by far the grandest 

 manifestation of the human mind ; it enables us 

 to rise to the unity, simplicity, and comprehen- 

 siveness of plan that regulates the complicacy of 

 the world's arrangements and movements, and 

 lessens to an unlimited degree the toil attendant 

 on man's situation in the universe. 



COMPOUND ASSOCIATION. 



Cases occur wherein a plurality of bonds of 

 connection concur in reviving some previous 

 thought or mental state. Associations that are 

 separately too weak to operate the revival of a 

 past idea may succeed by acting together ; and 

 there is thus opened up to our view a means of 

 aiding our recollection or invention when the one 

 thread in hand is too feeble to effect a desired 

 recall. 



The combinations may be made up of con- 

 tiguities alone, of similarities alone, or of a mixture 

 of the two. We could also bring under this head 

 the suggesting power of a present emotion or 

 volition ; for it is never an unimportant circum- 

 stance that a desired recollection gratifies a 

 favourite taste, or is strongly willed for some end. 



The general law is as follows : 



Past Actions, Sensations, Thoughts, or Emo- 

 tions are recalled more easily -when associated 

 either through contiguity or similarity, with more 

 than one present object or impression. 



We may have a combination of contiguities 

 under many circumstances. When we have mis- 

 laid anything, and cannot remember where we put 

 it, the link of connection between the object and 

 the place is shewn to be too feeble ; whereupon 

 we run over other circumstances till some second 

 associating bond can be hit upon. We think of 

 what we were doing at the time, and of all other 

 connected things, in order that the addition of 

 these may so corroborate the weakness of the 

 main association as to make up the full power of 

 revival. The recollection of names has to be often 

 eked out in this way. When we have forgotten 

 the name of a person or an object, we are under 

 the necessity of referring back to the situation and 

 circumstances where we last heard it, to see if 

 any other bond of connection will spring up. Very 

 often we are unable at the time to recover the lost 

 sound by any means ; but afterwards an auxiliary 

 circumstance crosses the view, and the recollec- 

 tion strikes us of its own accord 



The case of mixed contiguity and similarity is 

 a common one. If any one in describing a storm 

 bring in the phrase ' a war of elements,' the meta- 

 phor has been brought to mind partly by simili- 

 tude, but partly also by contiguity, seeing that the 

 comparison has already been used in conjunction 

 with a storm. The person that first used the 

 phrase came upon it by similarity ; he that used 

 it next, had contiguity to assist him ; and after 

 frequent usage, this last bond might come to be 

 so well confirmed, that the attraction of similarity 

 is at last superseded. In this way, many things 

 that were originally strokes of genius, end in being 



