4 Philosophy of the Human Mind. 



if its powers and activity be all important, as every 

 one must acknowledge them to be; and if some cor- 

 rect understanding of these powers be intimately 

 connected with our improvement, comfort, and use- 

 fulness; then to despise metaphysics is to despise 

 one of the noblest objects of human inquiry, and 

 to display a most unworthy ignorance of the com- 

 parative worth of those studies which invite our at- 

 tention. 



It was before remarked, that at the opening of 

 the century, Mr. Locke had laid his Essay on 

 Human Understanding before the world. The 

 publication of this great work forms an era in the 

 history of metaphysical science. The author was 

 the first who gave, in the English language, an 

 example of writing on such abstract subjects, with 

 simplicity and perspicuity; and there is, perhaps, 

 no work, in any language, " better adapted to 

 teach men to think with precision, and to inspire 

 them with that candour and love of truth which is 

 the genuine spirit of philosophy. " 



Though Des Cartes had done much, before the 

 time of Mr. Locke/ to correct the errors which 

 abounded in the ancient systems of metaphysics; 

 and though some of the leading opinions of that 

 great French philosopher were adopted by the il- 

 lustrious Briton, yet the latter was, in many re- 

 spects, an original, and a reformer in science. His 

 investigations concerning the origin and formation 



a Des Cartes was the first metaphysician who drew a plain and intel- 

 ligible line of distinction between the intellectual and material world, or be- 

 tween spirit and body. The importance and utility of this distinction are 

 obvious. He was the i 4 rst who showed that the analogical mode of rea» 

 soning, concerning the powers of the mind, from the properties of body, 

 is totally erroneous; and that accurate reflection on the operations of our 

 own mind, is the only way to gain a just knowledge of them. It was his 

 philosophy which threw the phantasms, the sensible species, the substantial 

 forms, &.c. of the old systems into disgrace, and introduced a more simple, 

 perspicuous and rational method of investigating metaphysical truth. 



