182 Philosophy of the Human ]\ruid. [Chap. XIL 



carried beyond a certain length, is, doubtless, cal- 

 culated to deceive the inquirer, and to counten- 

 ance the most miscliievous errours. 



Dr. Reid was enabled to present the improved 

 views of the science of mind, which his works con- 

 tain, by pui'suing a method of inquiry which he 

 first applied to this subject. The inductive plan 

 of investigation, recommended by Bacon, had l^en 

 long before applied to the physical sciences ; and 

 a few writers, from the beginning till the middle 

 of the eighteenth century, had suggested the pro- 

 priety of attempting to explore, on similar princi- 

 ples, the phenomena of the intellectual world. 

 But Dr. Reid is asserted to have been tlie first per- 

 son '' who conceived justly and clearly the ana- 

 logy between these two diiferent branches of hu- 

 man knowledge ; defining with precision the di- 

 stinct provinces of observation and of reflection, 

 in furnishing the data of all our reasonings con- 

 €erning matter and mind ; and demonstrating the 

 necessity of a careful separation between the phe- 

 nomena which they respectively exhibit, while we 

 adhere to the same mode of philosophising in in- 

 vestigating the laws of each *. 



It ought in justice to be stated, that Dr. Reid, 

 however great his merit for illustrating and de- 

 fending the doctrine of Common Sense, as taught 

 in his metaphysical writings, was by no means the 

 first who resorted to this method of opposing the 

 sceptical philosophy of the age. Father Butfier, 

 a learned and ingenious Jesuit of France, early in 

 the century espoused a doctrine substantially the 



* Stewart's Life of Reid, p, 48. 



