color of snow, milk, chalk, paper, and many other things.

15. This power, which the mind has, of separating the qualities combined in the objects, which fall under our observation, and of tracing the same quality in a multitude of objects, is the foundation of all classification, and gives rise to the general words of language. But, notwithstanding the necessity of abstraction in every act of classification, it may be performed on individuals, without referring them to any class. This has occasioned some* to suppose, that the formation of classes required a distinct operation, which they called generalization. Dr. Reid says, "we cannot

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"generalize without some degree of abstrac"tion, but I apprehend we may abstract without "generalizing. For what hinders me from at"tending to the whiteness of the paper before “me, without applying that color to any other "object? The whiteness of this individual "object is an abstract conception; but not a "general one, while applied to one individual "only. These two operations, however, are

* Reid, Intellectual Powers, Essay V. ch. 3. Collard, Logick, part 1. oh. 2.

"subservient to each other; for the more at"tributes we observe and distinguish in any แ one individual, the more agreements we shall "discover between it and other individuals."

CHAPTER FIFTH.

ASSOCIATION.

16. By the association of ideas is understood that connexion among the thoughts, affections, and operations of the mind, by which one has a tendency to introduce another. That one idea is often suggested to the mind by another, and that sensible objects revive past trains of thought, are facts familiar to all. Words recall the objects, to which they have been applied; and the objects as readily suggest their names. A long train of associated thoughts is sometimes introduced by a single circumstance. The view of the spot, where we passed the first years of life, after a long absence, will recall many interesting events of childhood. The first notes of a familiar tune, being sounded, will cause the remaining notes to pass through the mind in regular order.

17. No principal of our nature is productive of more important effects, than this, which

establishes a connexion between our ideas, feelings, and mental operations. It is the source of numerous errors and prejudices. It is the foundation of all our local attachments, and of most of our prepossessions in behalf of the government and other institutions of our country. It is to the principle of association, that we are to attribute our predilections for the modes of dress, pronunciation, and behaviour of those, whom we esteem and respect.

The principles of association have been dif ferently stated. Their number is not settled; but the following are among the most obvious:

18. First, resemblance or analogy is an extensive principle of association. We are often reminded of one person, by the countenance, voice, or gestures of another. One natural scene suggests another; and one event or one anecdote frequently brings another to our remembrance, by the similarity we observe between them.

19. Secondly, opposition or contrast is another principle of association, but of less extensive influence than the preceding. The pains of hunger and thirst suggest the pleasures of eating and drinking. Cold reminds us of

heat; darkness, of light; and parsimony, of prodigality. So, among contending parties, extravagance on one side usually drives the other to the opposite extreme.

20. Thirdly, another, and with the bulk of mankind the most extensive, ground of association, is contiguity or nearness of time and place. The recollection of an event, in which we were interested, brings to our thoughts many circumstances connected with it; as the place we were in, when it happened, or when we were informed of it; the persons, who were with us; and the peculiar state of our feelings at the time. The objects we meet on a road, that we have formerly travelled, successively remind us of the subjects, about which we were employed, when we passed them before.

21. A fourth principle of association results from the relations of cause and effect, premises and consequences. The sight of a surgical instrument, or an engine of torture, excites a strong sense of the pain, it is calculated to occasion; and the sight of a wound reminds us of the instrument, by which it was made. When we see a fellow being in distress, we are solicitous to find out the cause; and

when we have afflictive tidings to communicate, we anticipate the grief, which will be excited.

22. As one idea may be associated with several others, each leading to a different series, it is obvious, that the same circumstance may suggest different trains of thought to different persons, and to the same person at different times. The association of ideas is concerned

in every act of memory and recollection.

No

thought, after it has once passed from the mind, could ever be recalled, were it not for the tendency of one idea to introduce another.*

CHAPTER SIXTH.

ANALYSIS.

23. Analysis deserves a place among the operations, by which the elements of knowledge are acquired. Without this, our perceptive powers would give us only confused and imperfect notions of the objects around us. analyze is nothing more, than to distinguish successively the several parts of any compound· subject. Nature dictates this process. We

To

* Hume, Essays, vol. ii. sect. 3. Stewart, Elem. vol. i. ch. 5. Beattie, Dissertations, Mor. and Crit. vol. i. ch. 2, sect. i. Scott Elem. Intel. Phil. ch. v. sect. i.