CHAP. XIII.

OF ASSOCIATION.

Locke-Hartley-1. Classes of Connexions—2. Laws of Connexions, &c. -Strength and Durability of Associations-Disunion of them-Law of Transference-Relations-3. Composition of Ideas-Mental Feelings-4. Affections, &c.— Filial Affections-General Principles respecting the Affections-Influence of Habit on Sensibility-Disinterested Affections.

ENOUGH has been already stated, to shew the great importance of this principle. There is scarcely an operation of thought in which association is not concerned; and in every department of feeling its agency is indisputable.

Mr. Locke appears to have been the first who employed the principle of association to account for the aberrations of judgment and affection, and for customary connexions of ideas; but he does not seem to have been at all aware, that all our ideas, except those of reflection and the elementary ideas of sensation, are in reality formed by the influence of the same principle, either alone or under the guidance of the understanding; that all our affections, and our mental pleasures and pains, are nothing more than the relics of sensation variously combined by association. This truth was fully brought into view by Dr. Hartley, in his Observations on Man, Dr. Hartley was eminently qualified for the successful pursuit

of mental science; for with habits of patient, persevering investigation and observation, a correct and penetrating judg ment, and an extensive acquaintance with the most important branches of human knowledge, he united those moral qualities, the want of which has, more than any thing, tended to cloud the mind, and prevent the intellectual eye from discerning important truth. Hartley has unfortunately blended with his grand principles, an hypothesis respecting the physical causes of thought, which is of little or no value: in some cases he has carried too far the application of the grand law of associ ation; and, in particular, he has too much neglected the effects produced on its agency by the exercise of the understanding. Nevertheless his work is a treasury of com prehensive and judicious observations, and accurate and profound investigations, respecting the human mind, of unrivalled excellence and importance: and his principles, while they satisfactorily explain a vast variety of our mental phenomena, are an invaluable guide in moral culture.

In endeavouring to lead our readers to an acquaintance with some of the most important phenomena of association, we shall first give a view of the classes and laws of connexions; and then state some of the chief facts relative to compositions, and the formation of our compound notions and feelings.

§. 1. Classes of Connexions.

First: a sensation may be associated with other sensations, ideas, and motory changes (i. e. such mental changes as produce muscular action, whether these be directly voluntary or not).

(1.) A sensation, after having been associated a sufficient number of times with another sensation, will, when impressed alone, excite the simple idea corresponding with that other sensation. Thus the names, smells, tastes, &c. of external objects, suggest the idea of their visible appearance; and the sight of them suggests their names, &c. In the same manner, a word half pronounced excites the idea of the whole word;

the mention of the letters a, b, suggests the idea of c, d, &c.; the sight of part of an object suggests the idea of the whole; and the sight of one object recalls the visual idea of other objects which have been uniformly or very frequently seen with it.—Innumerable other instances might be given with little trouble; but we shall mention only one more, which may assist some of our readers in accounting for certain cases of apparitions. A youth was one day hastily passing by a room in which a very excellent friend had usually sat, in a particular chair, and in a particular part of the room. His thoughts were not much engaged; and the sight of the chair excited in his mind a vivid conception of his friend as sitting in that chair. The friend had been dead some weeks; but without reflection, he came back for another vision, but without effect. Where such conceptions are vivid and easily excited, they frequently lead those who are inattentive to their sensations, to suppose that they actually saw and heard, at a particular time, what they did not then see or hear.

(2.) Sensations become connected with ideas, so that the repetition of the sensation will excite the connected idea.-Of this case of connexions the following will serve as examples. Words associated with ideas, will readily excite them even when very complex: the words hero, philosopher, justice, benevolence, truth, and the like, whether written or pronounced, immediately call up with precision the corresponding ideas.The hearing of a particular national tune, is said to overpower the Swiss soldier, when in a foreign land, with melancholy and despair; and it is, therefore, forbidden in the armies in which they serve. The sound recalls various heartfelt recollections; the idea of the peace, and the freedom of their country, of the home from which they are torn, and to which they may never return.-What trains of interesting thought and feeling are usually called up in the mind by the sight of those scenes of early pleasure, where passed the years when novelty gave charms to every sensation, to every employment of the faculty, when hope presented no prospects, but what were decked in

"fancy's fairy frost-work," and present joys precluded all regret for the past.

(3.) Sensations may become connected with motory changes; so that the sensation will excite the corresponding muscular action, without the intervention of that state of mind which is called will.-A person automatically (that is, without volition), turns his head towards any one who calls him by his name. When the hand of another is rapidly moved towards the eye, we shut the eye without thinking about it, or even being conscious of it. When copying from any book, if a person is very familiar with the employment, the appropriate motion of the fingers immediately follows the impression produced by the appearance of the word. In the same manner the visible impressions derived from musical notes regulate the motions of the performer. "While I am walking through that grove before my window," says Darwin, "I do not run against the trees or the branches, though my thoughts are completely engaged on some other object:" the sensible impression produced by the objects around, excite in the mind the appropriate connected motory changes, and these the action of certain muscles..

Secondly; Ideas may be connected with sensations, ideas, or motory changes.

(1.) An idea associated a sufficient number 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 ourselves continually thinking in words; that is, the trains of ideas which pass in our minds, are accompanied with their corresponding expressions, when those expressions are familiar 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.

(2.) Next, an idea associated with an idea, (whether 110

tion 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 respect; of cruelty, that of horror; of meanness, that of contempt.

(3.) Again, an idea associated with a motory change, will excite that motory change, (and its consequent muscular action). Thus, the desire to perform a particular action will produce the corresponding voluntary motion of the limbs; joy produces 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 words which we intend to commit to paper, if the character be not peculiar, or novel, will immediately suggest, and be followed by the appropriate motion of the fingers; and this without the intervention 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 correspondent Muscular Actions), may be connected with sensations, ideas, and other motory changes.

(1.) Muscular actions may be associated with sensations; that is, when muscular actions have been sufficiently long associated with sensations, the repetition of the muscular action alone will excite the simple idea belonging to that sensation. Thus the action of dancing will bring to mind the conception of the music with which it has been often accompanied. Again, children often accustom themselves to particular motions of the limbs, while committing to memory, or while repeating what 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 humour