LECTURE I. 51 



seems required of us, when the barter is 

 so disadvantageous, would be the highest 

 absurdity. We should give up that which 

 is in every respect, and in the greatest 

 degree, useful and dignifying, and what 

 experience has proved to be durable, for 

 that which is pernicious and derogatory, 

 and which evidently cannot last ; for the 

 specimens presented to us are composed of 

 such flimsy and ill-connected materials, that 

 they will not bear even common handling 

 and examination. 



Whoever considers the operations of in- 

 tellect, will, I think, perceive, that when 

 conviction is not forced upon the mind, by 

 something resembling mathematical de- 

 monstration, we form our own opinions. 

 We think as we have been instructed to 

 think, or as those do with whom we as- 

 sociate. Thoughts become concatenated, 

 and by repetition habitual and established. 

 There is a strongly imitative or gregarious 

 disposition, even in intellect ; most people 

 think as well as act with a party, and 



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