BRIEF RETROSPECT 



OF THE 



EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



PART FIRST. 



CHAPTER XII. 



PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN MIND. 



IF the physical sciences have received great im- 

 provements during the century under considera- 

 tion, it is feared the same cannot, with truth, be 

 said respecting the science of the human mind, 

 and the auxiliary branches of philosophy. In this 

 wide field, new experiments and discoveries, in the 

 proper sense of the words, can have no place;, and 

 there are serious grounds of suspicion, that many 

 modern systems of high claims, and imposing as- 

 pect, are, by no means, substantial additions to 

 the sum of knowledge. There is no doubt, in- 

 deed, that we have happily gotten rid of much 

 pedantry and jargon, which once obtained cur- 

 rency among the learned. We have thrown off* 

 the stiff, uncouth, and disgusting habiliments which 

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