Chap. XII.] Philosophj of the Human Mind. 1 9^3 



ever, it is difficult to reconcile l)is doctrines with 

 the immateriality of the soul. Good judges have 

 pronounced that if these doctrines be pursued to 

 their natural consequences, they must terminate in 

 absolute Spinozism. Accordingly it is well known 

 that some of the most distin2:uished materialists 

 of the age not only profess to admire Dr. Hart- 

 ley's work, but also adopt his reasonings, and ac- 

 knowledge him as their great master. 



Another metaphysical system which deserves to 

 be mentioned among the curiosities of the age is 

 that adopted and published by lord Monboddo, a 

 celebrated and voluminous writer of North Britain. 

 This system is, in fact, little more than a revival of 

 w^hat his lordship considers the Aristotelian philo- 

 sophy, or the doctrine of Universal, \vith the ad- 

 dition of some crude and absurd visions of his own, 

 which have been little studied, and still less re- 

 spected by those who are competent to judge. 



Lord Monboddo analyses sensil)le objects into 

 matter and form, and teaches, like most of the 

 disciples of the Stagirite, the eternity of both. He 

 msists that there are in mdiW four distinct minds. 



sonl, but the negative one, that it cannot be mateiidl according to 

 any idea or definition that we can form of matter. He has given 

 the following definition of matter, viz. ' That it is a mere passive 

 tiling, of whose veiy essence it is to be endued with a vis inertia: ; 

 for this lis inertice presents it-:elf immediately in all our observa- 

 tions and experiments upon it, and is inseparable from it, e\en in 

 idea.' The materiality therefore of the sensitive soul is precluded, 

 by tiio definition of matter being incapable of sensation. If there 

 be any other element capable of sensation, the soul may consist ot 

 tliat element J but that is a new snppo>iiion, still leaving the ori- 

 ginal question concluded in the negative, by the fundamental de- 

 finition of matter," 



Vol. II. O 



