Additional Notes. 459 



^traction, memory, reflection, &:c. in common with brutes? 

 or does he suppose that the soul, the immortal part, possesses 

 intellectual powers of a different kind ? 



2. It may be observed that this theory embraces a general 

 doctrine, which is gratuitously assumed, and is altogether un- 

 philosophical. Its object is to reduce all the energies of in- 

 tellectual and animal life to the operation of an invisible fluid 

 secreted by the brain, and existing in every part of the body. 

 But does this fluid exist? It is surely unphilosophical to take 

 for granted the existence of a substance, and then to proceed, 

 on the supposition, to a long train of inferences, the validity 

 of which must all rest on the first assumption. Besides, this 

 supposed fluid gives no real aid to the inquirer when admitted. 

 It explains nothing. The whole business of causation is as 

 much in the dark, after all this parade of developement, as ever. 

 Unwilling to confess himself ignorant of any thing, Dr. Dar- 

 win endeavours to amuse his own mind, and the minds of his 

 readers, with contractions, fibrous motions, appetencies, and 

 other apologies for ignorance. But these words convey no dis- 

 tinct ideas to the mind ; they enable us to make no real pro- 

 gress in the investigation of truth. In this writer's philoso- 

 phical works the poet too often appears with all his parade 

 of fictions. Suppositions are assumed for facts; conjec- 

 ture is brought in aid of hypothesis ; and from these ma- 

 terials, with all the formality of legitimate deduction, a 

 system is formed. But when the good old rule of philo- 

 sophizing — (< The causes must be both true and sufficient to 

 explain the phenomena" — is rigidly applied, many of his most 

 important postulates are found either utterly inadmissible, or 

 to possess, if admitted, only a fictitious value. The sensorial 

 power of this ingenious theorist, as applied to explain the phe- 

 nomena of mind, too much resembles the occult qualities, the 

 ■phantasms, and the essential forms of the schoolmen, to be 

 respectfully viewed by a practical philosopher. 



3. Several of the doctrines which enter into this theory are 

 not consistent with themselves. Dr. Darwin sometimes 

 uses the word idea to signify the organic affection, and some- 

 times the mental affection ; or, to use his own language, it 

 sometimes denotes the jibrous motion, and at others the sen- 

 sorial motion; that is, it signifies both the cause and the 

 effect. This inaccurate use of an important metaphysical 

 word is the source of much loose, perplexed, and inconsistent 

 reasoning. 



Again; the spirit of animation is said to have the powev 



