40 ALL THOUGHT NATURAL. 



of any kind. It is not even a quality or appearance 

 of a thing or being. It is a mere state or mode of the 

 mind ; and the mind can no more remember its states 

 than men can build houses without materials. The 

 mental state is a mere relation, and in itself it may be 

 a relation which is altogether impossible in practice, 

 or it may be one which is possible ; for the relation is 

 a particular kind of reference to two or more things 

 and it depends on the nature of the things themselves 

 whether they can or cannot have that relation to each 

 other. The relation of jumping over the moon, or 

 boring through the centre of the earth, comes just 

 as readily to the mind as the relation of stepping 

 from one side of the path to the other, or of boring 

 through a sheet of paper with a pin ; and in as far as 

 the immediate act of the mind is concerned, it has 

 just as much of what we call " power" in the two 

 instances that are first mentioned, as it has in the 

 other two : and ridiculous as it appears when set 

 down in words, a man has mentally as much power 

 to stand on the sun and kick all the planets in turn, 

 or even all at once, as he has to kick even the smallest 

 pebble out of his way. All are equally momentary 

 in the thought, and there is not the smallest fatigue 

 in thinking of either. 



In the one case, we say that the thought is "un- 

 natural," and in the other that it is " natural ;" and 

 there lurks an ambiguity in these words which mars 

 our understanding, by leading us to confound one 

 thing with another, or to consider two things as only 

 one. A relation may be natural to the mind, or it 

 may be natural to the subjects of whiph the mind 

 considers it a relation. To the mind that thinks, every 

 thought must be natural; because an unnatural thought 

 would be a thought that the mind did not think, 

 which is an impossibility. 



That the relation shall be natural to the subjects 

 of which w r e think it a relation, is a very different 

 matter. It does not depend upon us or our thinking, 

 tut on the subjects themselves j and we cannot think 



