104 SENSATION AND ITS OBJECTS. 



thought ; to necessity, of free agency as af- 

 firm, that these sensations do actually inhere in 

 them; that heat is in fire, cold in snow, white- 

 ness in silver, blackness in jet, &c. 



The proposition to be solved, is this ; 

 what are the bodies which possess the power of 

 conveying impressions to the organs of sense in 

 general, by means of which sensation is produced? 

 What are the bodies, which impressed upon the 

 eye, shall cause the sensation of illumination in 

 general, and of color in particular; upon the 

 ear, the sensation of sound in general, and of 

 tone in particular ; upon the tongue, taste in 

 general, and flavor in particular ; upon the 

 skin, feeling in general, the feeling of pleasure 

 or pain, of heat or of cold, in particular? 



A proposition, such as this, may be solved 

 with as much certainty by a child of five years 

 of age, as by a man who has lived to the years 

 of Methuselah : a child will, at once, affirm 

 that strokes or impressions made on him by a 

 rod, give him pain ; that a rose is fragrant ; that 

 gold is yellow ; silver, white ; jet, black ; sugar, 

 sweet; vinegar, sour; fire, hot; snow, cold. 

 Not that these sensations actually inhere in 

 these bodies, but that these bodies, impressed 

 u^on the different senses, produce or excite 

 upon them different sensations, to which differ- 

 ent and appropriate names have been given ; of 



