PERCEPTION. 513 



and unite its elements in an order or mode of 

 combination different from that in which they 

 were originally presented. Many of these active 

 operations of mind are implied in the process of 

 perception ; for although it might be supposed 

 that the diversity in the nature of our sensations 

 would sufficiently indicate to us a corresponding 

 variety in the qualities of the material agents, 

 which produce their impressions on our senses, 

 yet these very qualities, nay, even the existence 

 of the objects themselves, are merely inferences 

 deduced by our reasoning powers, and not the 

 immediate effects of those impressions on the 

 mind. We talk, for instance, of seeing a distant 

 body ; yet the immediate object of our perception 

 can only be the light, which has produced that 

 particular impression on our retina ; whence we 

 infer, by a mental process, the existence, the 

 position, and the magnitude of that body. When 

 we hear a distant sound, the immediate object of 

 our perception is neither the sounding body 

 whence it emanates, nor the successive undula- 

 tions of the medium conveying the effect to our 

 ear ; but it is the peculiar impression made by 

 the vibrating particles of the fluid, which are in 

 direct contact with the auditory nerve. It is 

 not difficult to prove that the objects of percep- 

 tion are mere creations of the mind, suggested, 

 probably instinctively, by the accompanying- 

 sensations, but having no real resemblance or 



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