PHILOSOPHY, MENTAL. 



our attention were for a moment called off 

 by the coughing of a person near us, the 

 train of thought suggested by the sermon 

 Would form no connection with the cause 

 of the interruption, and it. would pass in 

 the mind without the idea of the interrup- 

 tion being introduced. But suppose a poor 

 man to have fallen down in a tit of apoplexy, 

 the circumstance would strongly interest 

 our sympathy and excite our attention ; 

 many feelings would be brought into ac- 

 tive exercise ; and the ideas which were 

 at that time in the view of the mind, would 

 probably ever after present with them 

 those of the scene which so strongly af- 

 fected us. Hence the importance that 

 those who have the care of education, 

 should seize the happy moments when 

 circumstances have peculiarly interested 

 the mind, to connect with them those re- 

 lated maxims of prudence, benevolence, 

 and piety, which so introduced may have 

 a lasting effect in regulating the disposi- 

 tion ; but which, brought in a form less 

 interesting, will have no permanent bond 

 of union, and will soon be obliterated. 

 Hence, too, the importance of instilling 

 into the mind those principles which are 

 designed to have a constant operation in 

 the thoughts, and feelings, and actions, of 

 life, in such a form that they shall become 

 connected with those thoughts and feel- 

 ings which have already a firm hold on the 

 mind, and thus be brought into view and 

 excited into action much more frequently 

 and uniformly. The effect of frequent re- 

 currence in producing strength and dura- 

 bility of association, may be best explain- 

 ed by the associations which take place 

 between words and their corresponding 

 ideas. These connections are not in ge- 

 neral attended with any particular cause 

 of association, except frequency of recur- 

 rence, and therefore they are the most un- 

 exceptionable instances. Now, other 

 things being equal, we find that those 

 words which are most frequently called 

 up in the mind in connection with the 

 ideas to which they belong, have a closer 

 connection with those ideas ; that is, the 

 idea suggests the word, and the word sug- 

 gests the idea, with greater certainty, and 

 the association is more permanent. The 

 following remarks of Dr. Percival will il- 

 lustrate this genefal principle. " Slight 

 paralytic affections of the organs of 

 speech," says the doctor, " sometimes 

 occur without any corresponding disorder 

 of the other parts of the body. Hence 

 the effort to speak succeeds the volition 

 of the mind slo\vly and imperfectly, and 

 words are uttered with faltering and he- 



sitation. These are facts of common no- 

 toriety : but I have never seen it remark- 

 ed, that in these local palsies the pro- 

 nunciation of proper names is attended 

 with peculiar difficulty ; and that the re- 

 collection of them becomes very obscure, 

 or is entirely obliterated, while the recol- 

 lection of persons, places, and things, re- 

 mains unchanged. This confirms the 

 theory of associations, and at the same 

 time admits of an easy solution by it. For 

 as words are arbitrary marks, and owe 

 their connection with what they impart to 

 established usage, the strength of this 

 connection will be exactly proportioned to 

 the frequency of their recurrence, and 

 this recurrence must be more frequent 

 with specific terms.'* 



33. Besides these two uni\'ersally ope- 

 rating causes of the strength and durabi- 

 lity of association, it is proper to observe, 

 that they depend also upon the predispo- 

 tion of the mind, the habitual bias of 

 thought and feeling, and the prevailing 

 cast of the associations already formed. 

 This may in some part be resolved into 

 the first cause, the degree of vividness of 

 the connected ideas ; but in part it must 

 be considered as separate. Where there 

 are associations of a contrary tendency, 

 the production of the new association im- 

 plies the destruction of the old one ; and 

 hence it is that persons who have passed 

 the prime of life, feel it so exceedingly 

 difficult to acquire new associations which 

 are in opposition to those long formed. 

 Hence it is that all those improper biases 

 of thought and feeling, which oppose the 

 best regulation of thought and feeling, 

 should be carefully shunned ; all those 

 associations carefully prevented, whicli 

 lead the mind away from God and duty, 

 or whicli simply check the reception of 

 those which accord with the dictates of 

 religion. They do more than directly in- 

 jure by their own existence ; they injure, 

 also, and this in no small degree, by pre- 

 venting the formation of those associations 

 which directly prompt to the course which, 

 duty points out. 



34. An acquaintance with these princi- 

 ples leads us to the direct method of con- 

 firming associations which are essential 

 to our well-being ; suppose, for instance, 

 the connection of a regard to the will of 

 God, with our conduct, we should endea- 

 vour to connect as much as possible those 

 pleasurable feelings which have a tenden- 

 cy to strengthen the links of union ; we 

 should cultivate the connection by fre- 

 quently and continually bringing it into 

 action, and we should carefully cultivate 



