PHILOSOPHY, MENTAL. 



nected with one another, or blended to- 

 gether, so that the one when recalled to 

 the view of the mind, is accompanied 

 with the other. But we must not limit 

 its exercise to this operation ; it not only 

 connects ideas when they are thus pre- 

 sented together to the mind, but is the 

 cause of the introduction of ideas with 

 one another, which have never before 

 been presented together to the mind. An 

 object which has never before been pre- 

 sented to the mind, may excite numerous 

 ideas, or trains of ideas ; while another 

 may continually occur without exciting a 

 single idea And the same object will 

 Jifiect different persons differently, so 

 that in the mind of one it will excite trains 

 of thought, while in another it will only 

 produce a momentary impression ; and in 

 different persons too the same object will 

 excite different trains of thought ; and in 

 the same person, at different times, dif- 

 ferent effects will be produced. Now all 

 this depends upon the habitual or acci- 

 dental biases to particular kinds of con- 

 nection, produced either by the habitual 

 tendency of the mental constitution, or 

 more usually, by the particular culture of 

 the individual mind, owing to direct in- 

 struction, or to the effect of circumstan- 

 ces, operating without any intention either 

 on his part or on that of others. 



49, The earliest bond of union between 

 objects of thought, is their being present- 

 ed to the mind together, or in close suc- 

 cession, through the medium of sensation; 

 this is owing to the objects of sensation 

 being connected either in time or place, 

 or in other words, owing to the relation 

 of contiguity in time and place existing 

 between these objects This cause of 

 connection among our ideas is what ne- 

 cessarily has the earliest efficacy in form- 

 ing those connections, because it does not 

 presuppose, as every other does, the ex- 

 istence of other ideas in the mind, or the 

 exercise of attention to other relations 

 which exit>t among them. Children asso- 

 ciate ideas together almost entirely by 

 this bond of union ; persons of uncultivat- 

 ed minds, in the same manner, usually 

 have their ideas connected by the same 

 bond of union, contiguity of time and place 

 of the objects of sensation, producing im- 

 pressions on the mind at the same time, or 

 in close succession ; and more or less it is 

 a connecting link, or cause of connection, 

 in every one, in every period of life. We 

 might, a priori, calculate upon its high 

 importance in the mental structure, and 

 as a matter of fact, it is the foundation of 

 all experience and philosophy, and at the 



same time the source of numerous preju- 

 dices. It is the source of numerous pre- 

 judices, by leading us to expect continued 

 conjunction in time or place, where the 

 conjunction was only occasional, and thus 

 to suppose a real and permanent connec- 

 tion between objects which had only an 

 accidental and temporary connection. 

 Hence unenlightened experience of the 

 past will fill the mind, in numberless in- 

 stances, with vain expectations, or with 

 groundless alarms concerning the future; 

 hence the regard which is paid to unlucky 

 days, to unlucky colours, to the influence 

 of the planets, &c. ; apprehensions which 

 render human life, to many, a continual 

 series of absurd terrors. But this prin- 

 ciple of connection among our ideas is 

 also the foundation of all f xperience and 

 philosophy ; for the grand object of philo- 

 phy is the knowledge of those laws which 

 regulate the succession of events, so that 

 from the past we may be enabled to anti- 

 cipate the probable course of the future, 

 and to regulate our conduct accordingly ; 

 and therefore it is of the first importance 

 that the connections of time and place 

 should have a strong power over the mind. 

 Experience is of a more limited nature, 

 but has the same object to anticipate the 

 probable course of events, so as to make 

 the past subservient to the conduct of 

 the future ; and by rendering contiguity, 

 in time, one of the strongest principles 

 of connection in our minds: the wise Au- 

 thor of our frame has conjoined in our 

 thoughts the same events which we find 

 conjoined in our experience, and has thus 

 accommodated (without any effort on our 

 part) the order of our ideas to that scene 

 in which we are destined to act. 



50. Upon the connections established 

 by this principle, all other connections 

 are founded. Some of the most striking 

 are those which arise from the relations 

 of similarity, of contrariety, of cause and 

 effect, of means and end, of premises and 

 conclusion. Next to the relation of con- 

 tiguity in time and place, that of similari- 

 ty is most universally operative. It does 

 not depend upon an active exertion of 

 intellect, but arises spontaneously from 

 the mental constitution. Similarity im- 

 plies partial identity of sensation, and 

 hence an object, when first presented to 

 the mind, frequently recals the idea of that 

 which has some parts of its component 

 sensations the same. Thus when we see 

 a face which considerably interests us, 

 we are often led to recollect the face of 

 some other persun, in consequence of 

 the impressions from each agreeing in 



