ABSTRACT IDEAS, 313 



forming abstract concepts. Others who have chiefly 

 studied human mind, deny that these instances can 

 be regarded as a sufficient foundation for this funda- 

 mental quality. 



And thus with the idea of causation. The con- 

 ception that every thing must have an adequate 

 cause, is a universal factor of the human mind. 

 Even the lowest savages have the conception, as is 

 shown by their assuming the existence of numerous 

 gods to explain natural phenomena. Yet this is not 

 the result of observation. We perceive sequence of 

 events, but never causation. The idea that one has 

 caused the other is a necessity of thought, not of 

 facts. It is indeed a law of human thought, and is 

 the basis of true reasoning. But no one has ever 

 been able to find any evidence of its existence in 

 animals, and it is extremely improbable that they 

 have the slightest conception of any thing more 

 than sequence. Even in the human race this idea 

 only comes with a certain maturity of intellect, and 

 it is impossible to believe that animals possess this 

 quality while children do not. If animals do not 

 have this concept, it follows that true reasoning is 

 impossible for them, and that what seems to be 

 reason is simple association of ideas. In the same 

 way the conceptions of time and space are neces- 

 sary laws of thought, and not the result of observa- 

 tion. They constitute part of the data of thinking. 

 It is, of course, impossible to deny positively that 

 they may not be present as rudiments in animals, 

 but it is equally impossible to find any evidence of 

 them. Here again it is a matter of opinion whether 



