NEW ESSAYS 395 



pertinent here, where confusion between them has pro- 

 duced a false conclusion 155 . These two genera have a 

 common notion, and the notion of the real genus is 

 common to the two matters, so that their filiation will 

 be as follows 156 : 



^Merely logical, its variations consisting of mere differ- 

 ences. 



real, the differences of 

 which are modifica- 

 tions, that is to say, 

 matter 157 



metaphysical merely, in which 

 there is homogeneity, 



physical, in which there is a 

 solid homogeneous mass. 



I have not seen the second letter of our author to the 

 Bishop ; and the answer which the prelate makes to it 

 hardly touches the point about the thinking of matter. 

 But our authors reply to this second answer returns to 

 that point. ' God ' (he says, nearly in these words, 

 P- 397) 158 > 'superadds to the essence of matter what 

 qualities and perfections He pleases : to some parts mere 

 motion, but to plants vegetation, and to animals feeling 

 [sentiment]. Those who agree with me so far exclaim 



155 rp ne p O i n gjniply i s that, no real thing can have two or more 

 conflicting attributes, though it may at different times have modifica- 

 tions which in themselves are conflicting. Nevertheless attributes 

 which, in a real thing, would be impossible because conflicting, 

 may abstractly or 'ideally' be comprehended under the same 

 concept or in the same class, on the ground that there is an 

 essential (not merely accidental) community between them. They 

 are thus species of a logical genus. Modifications, on the other 

 hand, are more or less accidental variations of some real thing, 

 which is the bond of union between them. They are thus species 

 of a real genus. Ultimately, perhaps, the modifications may^Eum 

 out to be species of a logical genus (it is probable that they are so in 

 the mind of God) ; but, for us, an infinite analysis would be needed 

 to show this."-~ 



156 TM S ' filiation ' as a whole is, of course, an arrangement of 

 logical genera and species. 



187 * Matter ' here is equivalent to ' real genus/ 



158 wof-fa ( e( L 1823), vol. iv. p. 460 ; Bonn's ed., vol. ii. p. 390. 

 In translating this passage I have used Locke's words as much as 

 possible. 



