PHILOSOPHY, MENTAL. 
tions which we term connections ; pre- 
mising that many of the observations 
wliich follow are, as the reader will readily 
perceive, equally applicable to that class 
which we term compositions.— -These laws 
regard, 1. The strength of connections; 
2. The disunion of connections ; 3. The 
formation of connections by means of in- 
termediate links (which we may call the 
law of transference) ; and 4. Habitual biases 
to particular kinds of connections. 
1. TJie Strength of Connections. 
31. The strength and durability of con- 
nections depend partly upon the degree of 
attention with which the connected senso- 
rial changes have been attended, and partly 
upon the frequency with which they have 
recurred in connection ; less generally, partly 
upon the vividness of the connected ideas ; 
and partly upon the frequency with which 
the connected ideas, or muscular actions, 
have recurred in connection. — We may ad- 
duce, as an illustration of the former cause 
of strength and durability, that circum- 
stances of a light and trivial nature, which 
have occurred while our minds were occu- 
pied with subjects of a strongly pleasing 
nature, form no connection with the concur- 
ring train of ideas, even if the attention 
were drawn off by them. For instance, 
suppose we were attending to an interest- 
ing discourse, if our attention Were for a 
moment called off by the coughing of a per- 
son near us^ythe train of thought suggested 
by the sermon would form no connexion 
with the cause of the interruption, and it 
would pass in the mind without the idea of 
the interruption being introduced. But 
suppose a poor man to have fallen down in 
a fit of apoplexy, the circumstance would 
strongly interest our sympathy and excite 
our attention ; many feelings would be 
brought into active exercise ; and the ideas 
which were at that time in the view of the 
mind, would probably ever after present 
with them those of the scene which so 
strongly affected us. — Hence the impor- 
tance that those who have the care of edu- 
cation, should seize the happy moments 
when circumstances have peculiarly inte- 
rested the mind, to connect with them 
those related maxims of prudence, benevo- 
lence, and piety, which so introduced may 
have a lasting effect in regulating the dis- 
position ; but which, brought in a form less 
interesting, will have no permanent bond of 
anion, and wilt soon be obliterated . — Hence, 
too, the importance of instilling into the 
mind those principles which are designed 
to have a constant operation in the thoughts, 
and feelings, and actions, of life, in such a 
form that they shall become connected 
with those thoughts and feelings which have 
already a tirm hold in the mind, and thus 
be brought into view and excited into ac- 
tion much more frequently and uniformly. 
— The effect of frequent recurrence in pro- 
ducing strength and durability of associa- 
tion, may be best explained by the associa- 
tions which take place between words and 
their corresponding ideas. These connec- 
tions are not in general attended with any 
particular cause of association, except fre- 
quency of recurrence, and therefore they 
are the most unexceptionable instances. 
Now, other things being equal, we find that 
those words which are most frequently call- 
ed up in the mind in conneqtion with the 
ideas to which they belong, have a closer 
connection with those ideas ; that is, the 
idea suggests the word, and the word sug- 
gests the idea, with greater certainty, and 
the association is more permanent. The 
following remarks of Dr. Percival will 
illustrate this general principle. “ Slight 
paralytic affections of the organs of speech,” 
says the Doctor, “ sometimes occur without 
any corresponding disorder of the other 
parts of the body. Hence the effort to 
speak succeeds the volition of the mind 
slowly and imperfectly, and words are ut- 
tered with faltering and hesitation. These 
are facts of common notoriety : but I have 
never seen it remarked that in these local 
palsies the pronunciation of proper names 
is attended with peculiar difficulty; and 
that the recollection of them becomes very 
obscure, or is entirely obliterated, while 
the recollection of persons, places, and 
things, remains unchanged. This confirms 
the theory of associations, and at the same 
time admits of an easy solution by it. For 
as words are arbitrary marks, and owe their 
connection with what they impart to esta- 
blished usage, the strength of this connec- 
tion will be exactly proportioned to the 
frequency of their recurrence, and this re- 
currence must be more frequent with spe- 
cific terms.” 
33. Besides these two universally operat- 
ing causes of the strength and durability of 
association, iF is proper to observe that 
they depend also upon the predisposition 
of the mind, the habitual bias of thought 
and feeling, and the prevailing cast of the 
associations already formed. This may in 
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