2 Philosophy of the Human Mind. 



formerly enveloped the systems of the schoolmen. 

 But, in many cases, there is reason to believe, that 

 one jargon has been discarded only to adopt another 

 equally exceptionable. Various old dresses have 

 been laid aside, to make way for others more fashion- 

 able, indeed, but no less fantastic and odious. This 

 character, however, though it belongs to many 

 modern metaphysical writers, by no means applies 

 to all. The last age has, doubtless, produced some 

 writers, to whom we are indebted for substantial 

 improvements, and real progress in the interest- 

 ing field of inquiry under consideration. Even 

 some of those, who taught doctrines, in general, 

 delusive, yet have shed new light, and contri- 

 buted to clear the way for those who should come 

 after them. By many running to and fro , though 

 they frequently deviated into the paths of error* 

 knowledge has been, on the whole, increased. 



It has been peculiarly happy for this branch 

 of philosophy, that, in modern times, the prin- 

 ciples and power of language have been more 

 studied, and better understood, than in any pre- 

 ceding century. One* great cause of the dark- 

 ness and perplexity which so long hung over many 

 of the doctrines of mind, was the loose and inac- 

 curate manner in which the terms employed to ex- 

 plain the phenomena were used. This evil, though 

 not entirely, has been, in some measure, corrected. 

 The use and abuse of terms have received a more 

 enlightened attention than in former times. The 

 art of definition has become more precise, intelli- 

 gible, and popular. The senseless prating about 

 occult qualities ', and the perpetual use of unmean- 

 ing words, have gradually become less fashionable, 

 A habit of more precisely distinguishing between 

 cause and effect, between those things which may 

 be investigated and those which are beyond the 

 reach of the human mind, and between those 



