220 
afymp ony, which employed a quarter of 
2n hour, is recalled with the glance, or 
liften, of a’ few feconds. Here, again, is 
an oblivion, an omiflion, of the lef pro- 
minent ani ftimulant portions of the ori- 
ginal reprefentation; thofe only are re- 
vived which, from their peculiarity, made 
moft impreffion. Allideas of reminifcence 
then differ from the correfponding ideas 
of fenfation, by the withdrawing, or ab- 
ftrac\ion, of fome part of the origital 
idea; both of fpace and of time they oc- 
cupy lefs ; nor are they miniatures merely, 
but outlines, which preferve only the more 
characteriftic marks of the fenfations they 
imitate. All ideas of reminifcence there- 
fore are ideas of abftra&tion ; of which 
fome omit lefs and fome more of the ori- 
ginal ideas of fenfation. Of courfe we 
may fubftitute to\Locke’s term reflecizon, 
the term abjiraétion, without the rifk of 
being unintelligible; and divide ideas. 
Into ideas of fenfation and ideas of ab- 
ftra&tion. 
In the fecond chapter of his fecond 
book Locke advances thefe propofitions : 
“¢ The better to underftand the nature, 
manner, and extent of our knowledge, 
one thing is carefully to be obferved, 
concerning the ideas we have; and that 
is, that fome of them are fimple, and fome 
complex. 
«© Though the qualities that affect our 
fenfes are, in the things themfelves, fo 
united and blended that there is no fepar- 
ation, no diftance between them ; yet it 
is plain, the ideas they produce in the 
mind, enter by the fenles, fimple and un- 
mixed. 
‘© And there is nothing can be plainer 
to a man than the clear and diftin& per- 
ceptions he has of thofe fimpie ideas ; 
which, being each in itfelf uncompound- 
ed, contains in it nothing but one uniform 
appearance, or conception in the mind, 
ang is not diftinguifhable into different 
ideas. 
<¢ Thefe fimple ideas, the materials of 
all our knowledge, are fuggefted and fur- 
nifhed to the mind, only by thofe two 
ways above-mentioned, ienfation and re- 
flection. When the underftanding is 
once ftored with thefe fimple ideas, it has 
the power to repeat, compare, and unite 
them ; even to an almoft infinite variety ; 
and fo can make at pleafure new complex 
ideas. But it is not inthe power of the 
moft exalted wit, or enlarged underftand- 
ing, by any quicknefs or variety of 
thoughts, to invent or frame one new 
fimple idea in the mind, not taken in by 
the ways afore-mentioned ; nor can any 
Enquirer, No. XP, 
[April 1, | 
force of the underftanding deftroy thofe 
that are there.” 
Granting: that fome ideas are more 
complex than others, furely the ideas of 
fenfation are the moft fo. This bit of 
wax, to borrow the illudration of Locke, 
affe&ts my hand at once with a warm, a 
foft, an adhefive, and a fhapen fenfation. 
I can recall its warmth, without its foft- 
nefs or adhefivenefs : its foftnefs, without 
its warmth or adhefivenefs ; its adhefive- 
nefs, without its.warmth or its fof:nefs ; 
and its form without, or with, any, or all 
its other properties. In the idea of fenfa- 
tion, fuppofing I have employed the 
touch only, I neceffarily include all thefe 
tokens or properties ; in the idea of re- 
minifcence, I neceflarily omit the lecality, 
and can omit the warmth, the foftnefs, 
the adhefivenefs, or the form. I revive, 
according to the point of view in which 
I with to confider the wax, one or two or 
three or al! the phenomena, with which a 
fingle fenfation neceflarily brought me ac- 
quainted. The more omiffions are made, 
the fimpler the idea of reminifcence be- 
comes. I can even revive the idea of the 
warmth without the idea of the wax; 
and have in this cafe probably attained 
the fimpleft idea to which human intellect 
can pare away and {trip its perceptions 
—the idea of fenfation without a fub- 
ftratum. 
Yet thefe different properties of the 
wax, complex as they are, form but a 
{mall part of the idea of fenfation ; thefe 
were all deteGted by the touch. But the 
eye had obferved, befides, its whitenefs ; 
the nofe, its odour; the palate, its ful- 
fomenefs ; the ear, its dulnefS. And each 
of thefe charaéters alfo can be feparated 
in idea, and contemplated apart. In the 
fucceffive omiffion of more and more parts 
of the originally compound idea of fen- 
fation conhits the.whole . procels and pro- 
grefs of abftraction. 
If a number of fimple abfirad&t ideas 
are re-united by the mind in clufters ana- 
logous to thofe impreffed by fenfation ; 
the ideas fo compounded approach, in 
proportion to their complexity, to ideas of 
fenfation. Tous the poet employs a red 
and white abftra€ted from the rofe and 
the lily to paint the complexion of his 
mifirefs ; when he has added to the co- 
Jouring, the flower foft fkin, the form of 
Hebe, the movement of a Grace, and the 
voice of feeling, he has, by means of 
ideas, each in fome degree abftraét, re- _ 
compounded an idea more vivid perhaps 
than any fingle idea of fenfation, but ap- | 
preaching by its very compofition and 
complexity 
