imperfectly, without the object which originally caused it being present, it then becomes, by the use of language, a CONCEPTION.

And it is the same in any instance of perception, considered as distinct from mere conception. When, in strictness of speech, we are said to perceive anything, as a tree, a river, a building, or a mountain, the objects of our perceptions are in all cases before us. But we may form conceptions of them; they may be recalled and exist in "the mind's eye;' they may be conceptively brought near and made internally existent, however remote they may be in fact, both in time and place. Nevertheless, as this re-existence and restoration is, in the strict and specific sense of the terms, based upon what had previously been addressed to the outward senses, there is certainly reason for including the conceptive power and its results under the general head of the external intellect.

§ 8. Of the External Intellect in connexion with peculiarities of character.

It may be proper to remark here, that the view of the mind which separates the external from the internal intellect, furnishes some assistance in forming a correct estimation of those varieties of intellectual character, which frequently present themselves to our notice. There are some men who have great powers of external perception; who readily perceive and appreciate all the varieties and peculiarities of extension, form, colour, and magnitude; who, in a word, can accurately and promptly estimate what

ever has tangibility and visibility; but in whom the powers of comparison, judgment, and reasoning, and, in general terms, all those capacities, which are internal and reflective, are greatly deficient. It is undoubtedly the case, that these men often give the impression, at first sight, of great ability; nor is it true that they are wanting in ability of a certain kind. But it is rather practical than philosophical ability; ability suited rather to the appreciation of the exterior and the visible manifestations of things than of what may be called their subjectivity, or the more remote and intimate principles; ability better adapted to the every-day business of common life than to the speculations of the closet and the intricacies of science. This peculiarity of mental structure has frequently been noticed; and no system of Mental Philosophy, which derives its doctrines from a careful observation of nature, will be likely to deny its

existence.

§ 9. Of the Internal Intellect, or the Intellect as it is brought into action, independently of the direct agency of the Senses.

The mind is first brought into action through the mediation and assistance of the senses. It is by means of the senses that we become acquainted with outward things, with whatever is visible and tangible, and has outline and form. Accordingly, the first great theatre of mental movement is the external world. This is the source from which the mind may be considered as drawing its earliest nutriment,

and from which, in the first instance, it takes its character.

But the development of the external intellect is followed, particularly where there are opportunities of mental cultivation, by a new movement, which is strictly internal. In other words, the soul, when once called into action by means of its connexion with external things, finds sources of knowledge in itself, entirely distinct from the outward sources of hearing, touch, and the like. There are inward

powers of perception, constituting, as it were, hidden fountains of knowledge, which open themselves and flow up in the mind's remote and secret places. There is, therefore, philosophically considered, an internal as well as an external intellect; a perceptive power, which reaches to invisible and intangible existences and relations, as well as a perceptivity, which is merely occupied with what is presented to touch and sight, and the other senses.

I am aware that some mental philosophers, who have enjoyed more or less note in the literary world, have objected to this doctrine, particularly Hobbes, Condillac, and Helvetius; but it is supported by others certainly of not inferior weight; by Reid, Stewart, and Brown, and the Scotch school generally; by Cousin, and all the writers of the Platonic and Kantian school; by the leading phrenological writers; and, as it seems to me, by Mr. Locke. The authority of the more recent writers, those who have had the best opportunities to form a correct opinion, is decidedly in favour of it. And if it could be said that philosophy, as it exists in books, does

not favour it, still, have we not indubitable grounds for saying that philosophy, as it exists in nature, does? And what shall we say of that philosophy, which is at variance with nature?

§ 10. Of the Nature of Original Suggestion. Under the head of the Internal Intellect are properly included, as leading powers (or perhaps we should more properly say, as leading sources of knowledge), Original Suggestion, Consciousness, Relative Suggestion or Judgment, and Reasoning.

I.-By means of Original Suggestion we become possessed of various ideas, which we cannot ascribe directly to the senses on the one hand, nor to an act of the judgment or of the reasoning power on the other; ideas which, in the language of Dr. Reid, are not gotten by comparison, "and perceiving agreements and disagreements, but immediately inspired by our constitution." Mr. Stewart also recognises the existence of this mental power. In his Philosophical Essays he speaks of certain mental phenomena as attendant upon the objects of our consciousness, and as SUGGESTED by them. The notions of TIME, NUMBER, MOTION, MEMORY, SAMENESS, PERSONAL IDENTITY, PRESENT EXISTENCE, &c., he ascribes neither to the external world on the one hand, nor to the internal mental operations, of which we are conscious, on the other, except so far as they are the occasions on which the mind brings them out or SUGGESTS from its own inherent energy. Of the notion of DURATION, for instance, he would say, I do not see it, or hear it, or feel it, nor 1024 Fe Cart: C 2.

camations gong gistes

become acquainted with it by means of any other of the senses; nor am I conscious of it, as I am of believing, of reasoning, of imagining, and of other mental exercises; but it is SUGGESTED by the mind, itself; it is an intimation absolutely essential to the mind's nature and action. That is to say, it is an intimation, or conception rather, which the mind, constituted as it is, cannot fail to originate.

§ 11. Consciousness another form of Internal men

tal action.

II. The term Consciousness expresses another of the forms of internal mental action. By the common usage of the language, the term consciousness is appropriated to express the way or method, in which we obtain the knowledge of those objects which belong to the mind itself, and which do not, and cannot, exist independently of some mind. The words remembering, imagining, and reasoning, are terms expressive of real objects of thought; but evidently the objects for which they stand cannot be supposed to exist independently of some mind, which remembers, imagines, and reasons. Of these, therefore, he may properly be said to be conscious. And in all other cases where we apply the term under consideration, consciousness is limited, in the testimony which it gives, to mere mental action and the modifications of action; and does not properly extend to anything which has existence, extraneous to the conscious subject or soul itself.

Consciousness seems to sustain the same relation to the attributes of mind which sensation does to