II. TO HIGHGATE. 29 



But let me, my young friends, more par- 

 ticularly call your attention to the relations 

 which subsist between sounds and the organ 

 of hearing. The ear is equally sensible to 

 the impressions of sweet and melodious 

 tones, as of harsh and discordant sounds. 

 Ideas are couveyed through the intervention 

 of this organ. Hearing, besides, warns us 

 of external dangers : it enables us to enjoy 

 the delightful pleasure" of intercommunica- 

 ting with our fellow beings ; and it is to 

 this organ that we are indebted for the ra- 

 pid progress and improvement of our in- 

 tellectual faculties. But how, you will ask, 

 is this inconceivable phenomenon produced ? 

 I have already mentioned, that, at the pe- 

 riod when I began to study the relations of 

 external objects with the different organs 

 of sensation, I quickly discovered that those 

 relations arc of three different kinds; name- 

 ly, the relations of absolute necessity, those 

 of utility, and those of pleasure or satis- 

 faction. 



J>3 If 



