CANTO in. PROGRESS OF THE MIND. 117 



And sound, the symbol of the sense, explains 



In parted links the long ideal trains; 



From clear conceptions of external things 



The facile power of Recollection springs. 400 



" Whence REASON'S empire o'er the world presides, 

 And man from brute, and man from man divides; 



In parted links, 1. 398. As our ideas consist of successive trains 

 of the motions, or changes of figure, of the extremities of the nerves 

 of one or more of our senses, as of the optic or auditory nerves; 

 these successive trains of motion, or configuration, are in common 

 life divided into many links, to each of which a word or name is 

 given, and it is called an idea. This chain of ideas may be broken 

 into more or fewer links, or divided in different parts of it, by the 

 customs of different people. Whence the meanings of the words of 

 one language cannot always be exactly expressed by those of another; 

 and hence the acquirement of different languages in their infancy 

 may affect the modes of thinking and reasoning of whole nations, or 

 of different classes of society; as the words of them do not accurately 

 suggest the same ideas, or parts of ideal trains; a circumstance which 

 has not been sufficiently analysed. 



Whence Reason's empire, 1. 401. The facility of the use of the 

 voluntary power, which is owing to the possession of the clear ideas 

 acquired by our superior sense of touch, and afterwards of vision, 

 distinguishes man from brutes, and has given him the empire of 

 the world, with the power of improving nature by the exertions 

 of art. 



Reasoning is that operation of the sensorium by which we excite 

 two or many tribes of ideas, and then reexcite the ideas in which 

 they -differ or correspond. If we determine this difference, it is 



