408 Additional Notes. 



On the reputation of these two American divines the cha- 

 racter of cur country, with respect to metaphysical science, 

 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 acuteness and extent of comprehen- 

 sion, and fervour of piety, he has had but few equals belonging 

 to any age. The son very much resembled his father in ta- 

 lents, in piety, and in the circumstances of his life. 



Note (MM), page 209. — ^The same friend who was mention- 

 ed in the preceding note communicated the following remarks 

 on the subject o( Materialism, which I cannot deny myself the 

 pleasure of inserting at length in this place. 



*' Numerous are the advocates of the 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 upon 

 mechanical principles, it will be necessary to consider the sub- 

 ject in the light of known mechanical laws. - Whether we 

 adopt the hypothesis that the nerves are like fiddle-strings, or 

 that they are full of a medullary substance capable of vibra- 

 tions, the fundamental principle of materialism is one. ' The 

 vibrations of matter produce thought,' — ^On this theory it may 

 be observed — 



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

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

 tion J but to build a system on such a basis is credulity, not 

 philosophy. 



*' 2. Granting, for argument's sake, the existence of vibra- 

 tions, there is no necessary connection between vibration and 

 thought. If there be not, there must be another hypothesis 

 introduced, viz. * There mai/ be a connection between vibra- 

 tions 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 



