FACULTIES OF THE MIND. 223 



scarcely be perceived, unless in actions which suppose a 

 succession of events similar to those which have occurred. 



There is one very striking difference between this facul- 

 ty, as it exists in man and in the lower animals. With us, 

 it is frequently exerted on speculative truths : In them, 

 on present or future sensations. With us, sometimes on 

 things which we know will never happen : With them, on 

 things which the probabilities of experience warrant. 



II. IDEAS OF REFLECTION. 



The knowledge which we obtain through the medium of 

 our senses, by means of the three faculties whose nature 

 we have been attempting to illustrate, is denominated Ex- 

 perience. In acquiring it, the mind employs the senses to 

 collect, the attention to fix, the memory to recall, and the 

 imagination to convbine, the various impressions whicli ex- 

 ternal objects make upon us. In the course of this very 

 complicated process, the mind, by degrees, perceives rela- 

 tions among external objects which were not discovered 

 immediately after the first impressions, and obtains results, 

 from an attention to the intellectual process, by which the 

 limits of our enjoyment and power are extended, and the 

 senses directed to proper objects of examination. In con- 

 sequence of this ha^'tual or occasional attention, we acquire 

 a number of ideas, which do not resemble those which have 

 been formed directly from the impressions of the senses. 

 These are, therefore, properly termed Secondary Ideas, or 

 Ideas of Reflection. In the formation of these ideas, the 

 imagination exercises the greatest influence. They, in- 

 deed, arise from the unceasing combinations and decompo- 

 sitions of this faculty, and might, with propriety, be termed 

 liie.is of the Imagination. AVe may likewise observe, that 

 while they depend upon the condition of the primary im- 

 pressions, and are subordinate to these, they are still insc- 

 vor,. i. i 1 



