2 9 S REPETITION AND IMITATION. SECT. XXfT. 3. 



tion prefents itfelf to the view of a child, as of 

 whetting a knife, or threading a needle, the parts 

 of this action in refpect of time, motion, figure, are 

 imitated by a part of the retina of his eye ; to per- 

 form this action therefore with his hands is eafier 

 to him than to invent any new action, becaufe it 

 confifts in repeating with another fet of fibres, viz. 

 with the moving mufcles, what he had juft performed 

 by fome part of the retina ; juft as in dancing we 

 transfer the times of motion from the actions of the 

 auditory nerves to the mufcles of the limbs. Imi- 

 tation therefore confifts of repetition, which we have 

 fhewn above to be the eafieft kind of animal action, 

 and which we perpetually fall into, when we pofiefs 

 an accumulation of fenforial power, which is not 

 otherwife called into exertion. 



It has been fhewn, that our ideas are configura- 

 tions of the organs of fenfe, produced originally in 

 confequence of the ftimulus of external bodies. And 

 that thefe ideas, or configurations of the organs of 

 fenfe, refemble in fome property a correfpondent 

 property of external matter; as the parts of the 

 ienies of fighi and of touch, which are excited into ac- 

 tion, refemble in figure the figure of the ftimulating 

 body ; and probably alfo the colour, and the quan- 

 tity of denfity, which they perceive. As explained 

 in Seel. XIV. 2." 2. Hence it appears, that our per- 

 ceptions themfelves are copies, that is, imitations 

 of fome properties of external matter; and the pro- 

 penfity to imitation is thus interwoven with our ex- 

 iftence, as it is produced by the ftimuli of external 

 bodies, and is afterwards repeated by our volitions 

 and fenfations, and thus conftitutes all the opera- 

 tions of our minds. 



2. Imitations refolve themfelves into four kinds, 

 voluntary, fenfitive, irritative, and aflbciate. The vo- 

 luntary imitations are, when we imitate deliberately 

 the actions of others, either by mimicry, as in acting a 



play, 



