454 Additional Notes. 



may honourably rest. The father, considering the circum- 

 stances in which he was educated and spent his life, was truly 

 a prodigy of talents. For aciueness and extent of compre- 

 hension, and fervour of piety, he has had but few equals be- 

 longing to any age. The son very much resembled his fa- 

 ther, in talents, in piety, and in the circumstances of his life. 



Materialism, p. 31. 



The same friend who was mentioned in the preceding note, 

 communicated the following remarks on the subject of Ma- 

 terialism, which I cannot deny myself the pleasure of insert- 

 ing at length in this place. 



" Numerous are the advocates of die material system. In 

 order to enforce our belief in its doctrines, conjecture and in- 

 genuity have done their best. And, after all, great must be 

 the faith, or rather the credulity, of those who can believe it. 



" If we are to account for all the varieties of thought 

 tipon mechanical principles, ic will be necessary to consider 

 the subject in the light of known mechanical laws. Whe- 

 ther we adopt the hypothesis that the nerves are like fiddle- 

 strings, or that they are full of a medullary substance capable 

 of vibrations, the fundamental principle of materialism is one. 

 * The vibrations of matter produce thought.' — On this theory 

 it may be observed — 



" 1. It never has been proved that there are such vibra- 

 tions. It is a mere hypothesis. It may serve for specula- 

 tion; but to built a system on such a basis is credulity, not 

 philosophy. 



" 2. Granting, for argument's sake, the existence of vi- 

 brations, there is no necessary connection between vibration 

 and though!:. If there is not, there must be another hy- 

 pothesis introduced, viz. * There viay be a connection be- 

 tween vibrations and thought.' Upon this hypothesis I should 

 be glad to see Dr. Priestley or Dr. Darwin give us a 

 poem or dissertation upon the thoughts of the Harpsichord 

 while the strings are vibrating at the touch of a lady's finger; 

 or upon the grave speculations of a mill-pond while the boys 

 at play are throwing stones into it. 



" 3. Suppose I again grant, for further argument's sake, 

 this hypothesis to the materialists. It will be necessary to 

 show that, in vibrations, considered abstractedly, there is such 

 a variety in kind and degree as corresponds exactly with all 

 the varieties of thought. 



