PHILOSOPHY, MENTAL. 



stage of an affection ; that it may be lias- 

 tended or retarded, by attention, or ne- 

 glect of the culture of that affection ; and 

 that disinterestedness, as the general 

 character of the mind, is the highest point 

 of excellence, and what should be our 

 object, but can only be acquired by a 

 long course of religious culture. When 

 an affection has arrived at its most 

 complete state, in which it has no further 

 end than its own immediate object, (that 

 is, when the object is desired for its own 

 sake,) the affection may be called disin- 

 terested ; but as this term would thus be 

 applied, not only to the worthy, but the 

 baneful affections, we should be compell- 

 ed to speak of disinterested cruelty, dis- 

 interested avarice, &c. we shall therefore 

 call those affections which are in their ul- 

 timate state, ultimate affections. Premis- 

 ing this, we shall adduce some instances 

 which will explain the progress of an af- 

 fection, from the stale in which the object 

 of it is a mean, to that in which the object 

 of it becomes the sole end ; that is, in 

 which it is an ultimate affection. 



43. The most simple instance, and 

 what is frequently adduced for this pur- 

 pose, is the love of money. Money is 

 first an object of pleasurable feeling, 

 merely as a means of procuring other 

 things which are regarded as objects of 

 desire. For a momewt we may sometimes 

 think of it as having some intrinsic value, 

 independently of its utility as a means ; 

 but we may satisfy ourselves that this is 

 not the case, by observing how little it is 

 an object of interest to children who have 

 not heard much about it, or seen it em- 

 ployed, or employed it themselves. A 

 child is perhaps pleased with a piece of 

 money as a plaything, but nothing further, 

 and children sometimes advance consi- 

 derably far in life before they feei its value. 

 E. (a boy of 7 years old) was presented by 

 his father with half a crown, as a reward for 

 a very successful and persevering effort; he 

 was delighted with the approbation which 

 was shewn him, and as far as the money 

 was a mark of that approbation it pleased 

 him; but obviously nothing further. In 

 small families children generally learn the 

 value of money early, and we therefore 

 mention the circumstance as an illustra- 

 tion of what we have just said, that ori- 

 ginally it is merely desired as a mean. As 

 persons advance in life, money is conti- 

 nually found to be the mean of a great 

 number and variety of the sources of pre- 

 sent enjoyment ; hence pleasurable feel- 

 ings are continually connected with it, 

 and it becomes more and more an object 



of desire. In this stage of the progress 

 of the love of money, it is desired as the 

 means of procuring certain pleasurable 

 feelings, without reference to the objects 

 by which those pleasurable feelings are 

 directly produced. And even in this 

 state of it we find an instance of the law 

 of transference. The pleasurable feelings 

 resulting from the objects procured, or 

 to be procured, by money, are associated 

 with the money itself, without reference 

 to those objects. To revert to one of the 

 modes in which the law was proposed ; 

 here the pleasurable feelings which pur- 

 chasable objects produce ; the idea of 

 those objects; and the idea of money, are 

 the three sets of ideas. Money procures 

 the object, the pleasurable feeling ; hence 

 the pleasurable feeling becomes connect- 

 ed by means of the intermediate links 

 with money ; and hence money becomes 

 an object of desire, without any reference 

 to the means of gratification which it pro- 

 curesHere, to use the other statement, 

 the pleasurable feelings may be termed 

 A, the object which produces them B, 

 and money which produces those objects 

 C ; and by frequent connection between 

 A and C by means of B, A is transferred 

 to C; the pleasurable feelings are trans- 

 ferred to the idea of money (and conse- 

 quently to money itself) and are called 

 up by it without any reference to B, the 

 object by which those pleasurable feel- 

 ings were excited. The law of transfer- 

 ence may, in this instance, and many 

 others, be carried one step further. In 

 this state money is desired, on account of 

 the pleasurable feelings with which it is 

 connected ; but by degrees the desire is 

 transferred from the pleasurable feelings 

 with which it is connected to money it- 

 self, and money is loved for itself, without 

 any reference to those pleasurable feel- 

 ings. This is so important a fact in our 

 mental constitution, and what can be ex- 

 plained only by association, that we deem 

 no apology necessary tor endeavouring 

 so much at length to point out its appli- 

 cation. Here A is the desire which is ex- 

 cited by B, the pleasurable feeling con- 

 nected with C, the idea of money : by 

 means of B, A, the desire is transferred 

 to C, the idea of the money ; and thus 

 the money comes to be desired for itself, 

 without any reference to the pleasurable 

 feelings which it is the means of procur- 

 ing. In this state the desire of money is 

 become an ultimate affection ; it is no 

 longer desired as a means, but as an end ; 

 it is desired on its own account. 

 44. Illustrations of a similar kind might 



