67 



of control. But if an intelligent, discre- 

 tionary, and controlling power be granted, 

 I feel no disposition to demand any more. 



The perceptive and intellectual phseno- 

 mena cannot be rationally accounted for 

 upon the supposition that the brain is an 

 assemblage of organs, each possessing its 

 own perceptiveness, intelligence, and will. 

 There must be a common centre, as I may 

 express it, to which all the vital actions 

 tend, and from which all attention, ratio- 

 cination, decision, and volition proceed. 

 Our attention may be so inactive or absent, 

 so occupied by our own imaginations and 

 thoughts, or abstracted, that we are scarcely 

 conscious there is any thing surrounding 

 us. Though we possess extensive percep- 

 tion by means of vital actions, yet we attend 

 to but one subject at a time. We can 

 direct our attention to any of our various 

 sensations and feelings, to the operation of 



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