IN THE REALM OF MIND. 221 



as the very word implies, involve "images" of 

 external things, it is certain that contact with 

 external impressions, and in this sense Experi- 

 ence, is essential to the formation of them. 

 But if by Ideas we mean the elementary pas- 

 sions, or if we mean even those peculiarities of 

 thought — those special tendencies of mind which 

 lead us to view things in some particular light 

 rather than in others, and which constitute the 

 essential distinction between the ideas of different 

 men — if, in short, we include in the term any- 

 thing which belongs to the Thinking Faculty it- 

 self, or anything of the method according to 

 which it works up the raw materials of Thought 

 — then it is equally certain that Ideas in this 

 sense are born with all of us, and that Imitation, 

 and Experience, and Association, do but pour 

 their material into moulds already cast for their 

 reception. 



But in reality here, as in many other questions, 

 the rival disputants have each had some portion 

 of the truth. They have been both right and both 

 wrong. An Idea is not a simple, but a composite 



thing. It has not one origin, but a plurality 



X 



