PHILOSOPHY, MENTAL. 
the objects around, excite in the sensorium 
tlie appropriate connected riiotoiy changes, 
and these t!ie action of certain muscles. 
Secondly, ideas may be connected with 
sensations, ideas, or motory motions. 
24. An idea associated a sufficient num- 
ber of times with a sensation, will excite 
the simple idea belonging to that sensation. — 
Thus the ideas, whether simple or complex, 
which have been sufficiently associated with 
names, excite the ideas of their respective 
names. Hence it is that we find our.selves 
continually thinking in words ; that is, the 
trains ef ideas which pass in our minds, are 
accompanied with their corresponding ex- 
pressions, when those expressions are fami- 
liar to us : and it may be remarked that 
the habit of thinking in words is one which 
contributes greatly to accuracy and facility 
of thought, and therefore one which the 
young reasoner will do well to cultivate. — 
Those who are habituated to reasoning, 
find their trains of reasoning so generally 
clothed in words, and words so necessary 
to their intellectual operations, that the 
words are what they most attend to, and 
some have even gone so far as to suppose 
that general reasorling is concerned merely 
about words aitd not about ideas. They 
seem to lie under a similar error with those 
who imagine that the visible appearance of 
objects is all we attend to when we speak of 
magnitude, shape, &c. ; whereas the lact 
is, that the visible ar.pearance is nothing 
more than a symbol which serves to intro- 
duce the connected complex idea into the 
mind and to keep its parts connected : and 
this then is the grand end of woi ds in general 
reasoning. — We are conscious w'hile we are 
thinking, of employing the relicts of audible 
sensations ; we seem to have faint sensa- 
tions of sounds passing in the sensorium ; 
but it appears probable that those who have 
long lost the use of their hearing, and have 
generally employed sight as the inlet of 
knowledge, have a train of visual, instead of 
audible conceptions. Allj however, which 
we particularly wish to have noticed here 
is that these things aftcid instances of the 
connections of ideas with sensation.s, so that 
the idea introduces the simple idea belong- 
ing to that sensation. 
25. Next, an idea associated with an 
idea, (whether notion or feeling) will excite 
that idea. Thus the idea of benevolence 
will excite that of merit; of courage, that 
of honour; of great talents, that of res- 
pect; of cruelty, that of horror; of mean- 
ness that of contempt. 
VOT,. V. 
26. Again, an ide^ associated with a 
motory change, will excite that motory 
change, (and its consequent muscular ac- 
tion). — Thus, tiie desire to perform a |)ar- 
ticular action will produce the correspond: 
ing voluntary motion of the limbs ; joy pro- 
duces a pleasing cast of countenance ; fear 
excites trembling; and horror distortion. 
In the same manner when we are employed 
in committing our thoughts to writing, the 
idea of the woi ds which we intend to com- 
mit to paper, if the character be not pecu- ■ 
liar, or novel, will immediately suggest and 
be followed by the appropriate motion of 
the fingers, and this without the interven- 
tion of volition, sometimes without even 
the consciousness of the motory changes, or 
of the muscular actions produced by them. 
So also in speaking, unless some difficult 
pronunciation occur, the muscular actions 
requisite for the formation of the sounds 
follow immediately the conception of the 
words, without the intervention of the 
will. 
Thirdly, motory changes, (and their cor- 
respondent muscular actions), may be con- 
nected with sen.sations, ideas, and oilier 
motory changes, (and their correspondent 
muscular actions). 
27. Muscular actions may be associated 
with sensations ; that is, when mu.scu!ar ac- 
tions have been sufficiently long associated 
with sensations, the repetition of the mus- 
cular action alone will excite the simple 
idea belonging to that sensation. Thus the 
action of tlancing will bring to mind the 
conception of the music with wdiich it has 
been often accompanied. Again children 
often accustom theinselve.s to particular 
motions of the limbs, while committing to 
memory, or while repeating wdiat they have 
learnt ; and those muscular actions in many 
instances become necessary to their correct, 
and ready recollection, and even to their 
recollection at all. Addison, says Miss 
Edgeworth, represents with much'hiiinoiir 
the case of a poor man, who had the habit 
of twirling a bit of thread round his finger ; 
the thread was accidentally broken, and 
the orator stood mute. 
28 .So again muscular actions may be 
associated with ideas ; that is, when miis- 
ciilav actions have been sufficiently long 
associated with ideas, those muscidar ac- 
tions will excite those ideas ; thus dancing 
will introduce cheerfulness into the mind. 
•So particular muscular actions have, from 
habitual connection, a tendency to excite 
certain trains of thought or states of mind • 
R 
