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§8. Sol. 1. A vast stock of ideas are treasured up in the memory, which it easily produces on various occasions.

The Cartesians say, that objects coming in by sensation, and ideas got by reflection, make traces in the brain. But how exquisitely fine must these be, when in so small a compass the names and images of so many objects, as well as so many propositions and arguments are inscribed. Who can sufficiently admire it, not only in such extraordinary cases as are mentioned by DERHAM, &c. but in those cases which are most common?

§ 9. 2. We can distinguish ideas brought out of the memory from those, that come in by sensation or reflection; perhaps by the liveliness of the impression, or by the train of relations".

§ 10. 3. Ideas, of which we have but a general and imperfect remembrance, may often be recovered by recollection .

§ 11. 4. Memory in a great measure depends upon the body, and is often much injured by a disease, and afterwards recovered with recovering strength, which, on the Cartesian hypothesis, is accounted for by supposing, that those parts of the brain on which these characters are written, are by such disorders relaxed, in the same manner as the nerves in the other parts of the body are liable to be weakened or disabled.

12. 5. The memory differs at different ages. Children soon forget, as they soon learn: old people learn with difficulty, and remember best what they learnt when young. That is, say the Cartesians, because the brain growing by degrees more dry retains old characters, but does not easily admit new d.

§13. 6. Dreams generally make little impression on the memory because, say some, the animal spirits are then but gently moved.

§14. 7. An idea attended with great pleasure or pain makes a deep impression on the memory, i. e. a deep trace on the brain, the spirits being then violently impelled f.

§ 15. 8. The power of recollecting differs extremely at different times: and it is generally strongest, when we are most brisk and lively.

§ 16. 9. We remember that best in the morning, which we

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§8. Sol. 1. A vast stock of ideas are treasured up in the memory, which it easily produces on various occasions.

The Cartesians say, that objects coming in by sensation, and ideas got by reflection, make traces in the brain.-But how exquisitely fine must these be, when in so small a compass the names and images of so many objects, as well as so many propositions and arguments are inscribed. Who can sufficiently admire it, not only in such extraordinary cases as are mentioned by DERHAM, &c. but in those cases which are most common1?

§9. 2. We can distinguish ideas brought out of the memory from those, that come in by sensation or reflection; permaps by the liveliness of the impression, or by the train of elations b.

§ 10. 3. Ideas, of which we have but a general and imperect remembrance, may often be recovered by recollection.

§ 11. 4. Memory in a great measure depends upon the ody, and is often much injured by a disease, and afterwards ecovered with recovering strength, which, on the Cartesian ypothesis, is accounted for by supposing, that those parts of he brain on which these characters are written, are by such lisorders relaxed, in the same manner as the nerves in the other arts of the body are liable to be weakened or disabled.

12. 5. The memory differs at different ages. Children oon forget, as they soon learn: old people learn with difficulty, nd remember best what they learnt when young. That is, say he Cartesians, because the brain growing by degrees more dry etains old characters, but does not easily admit new d.

§13. 6. Dreams generally make little impression on the emory: because, say some, the animal spirits are then but ently moved.

§14. 7. An idea attended with great pleasure or pain makes deep impression on the memory, i. e. a deep trace on the rain, the spirits being then violently impelled f.

§ 15. 8. The power of recollecting differs extremely at different times: and it is generally strongest, when we are most risk and lively.

§ 16. 9. We remember that best in the morning, which we

DERHAM'S Phys. Theol. I. v. c. i. p. 262.
DES-CARTES de Pass. 42.
CICERO'S Tusc. Disp. 1. i. 24, 25.
WATTS's Ess. iii. 13, 14.

ROLLIN Maniere, &c. vol. i. p. 275-277.
AUGUST. Confes. L. x. c. 7.
SENEC, Controv. 1. i. sub init.
KAMSAY Princip. vol. i. p. 36.
MELMOTH'S Pliny, vol. i. b. vi. ep. ii. note.

b LOCKE's Ess. 1. ii. c. vi. 5, 6.
DES-CARTES de Pass. 26.

C WATTS's Ess. iii. 15.

LOCKE'S Ess. 1. i. c. x. 7.

d WATTS's Improv. p. 255, &c,
BAXTER on the Soul, v. 13.
CAMB. Educ. des Filles, p. 25, 26.
e WATTS's Ess. v. 1 2.

f LOCKE's Ess. I. ii. c. x. § 3.

1

learnt just before we went to sleep: because, say the Cartesians, the traces made then are not apt to be effaced by the motions of the spirits, as they would, if new objects of sensation had presented themselves; and during this interval, they have, as it were, time to stiffen.

§ 17. 10, Sensible ideas gradually decay in the memory, if they be not refreshed by new sensations; the traces perhaps wearing out yet they may last many years.

§ 18. 11. When a train of ideas is very familiar to the mind, they often follow one another in the memory without any laborious recollection, and so as to arise almost instantaneously and mechanically; as in writing, singing, &c. the traces between them being worn like beaten roads".

§ 19. 12. The memory is a faculty, which is almost incessantly exercised, while thought continues; (though the instances of laborious recollection are comparatively few :) nor do we ever find the human mind entirely stript of it, though it be often impaired,

LECT. IX.

Of Memory, according to Cartesius.

§. 1. Dem. THE probability of the Cartesian hypothesis will

appear from considering,

§ 2. 1. How well it agrees with the various phænomena mentioned above.

§ 3. 2. The analogy upon this hypothesis between sensation and memory, the one arising from impressions made on the brain, the other depending on traces continued there.

§ 4. 3. The instances in which memory has been almost wholly lost at once by a sudden violent blow upon the head; insomuch that a great scholar has entirely lost the knowledge of letters by it, and has been forced with infinite labour to begin again from the elements of them: and in other instances the recollection has been gradual, and the events of childhood and youth have been recovered first.

§ 5. Cor. The memory is a useful faculty, which deserves

a LOCKE's Ess. 1. ii. c. x. 4, 5.
b LOCKE's Ess. l. ii. c. xxxiii. §6.

C COLLIB. on the Soul, Ess. i. 9.
CLERICI Pneum. I. iv. 8-17.
HARTLEY on Man, c. iii. 1.

to be carefully cultivated by attention and exercise, frequent reviews and conversation".

§ 6. Schol. 1. The artificial methods which some have proposed must be allowed to be very ingenious; but perhaps are rather calculated to improve a memory already good, than to help a bad one.

§ 7. 2. The excellency of the memory consists partly in its strength of retention, and partly in its quickness of recollection c.

8. 3. If the Cartesian hypothesis should be admitted, memory will still continue a great mystery: for it must be acknowledged impossible thoroughly to explain how either that or sensation should be affected by any impression on the brain, or what connection there can be between such impressions and thought in any of its modes.

9. 4. Mr. LOCKE accounts for the association of ideas, which is the cause of antipathies and many errors, with other strange phænomena, by memory; supposing such traces are worn on the brain as unite ideas, so that when the mind turns to one it should almost necessarily fall on the other too. Lect. 8. § 18.

§ 10. 5. If the Cartesian hypothesis be admitted, it must be owned that nothing gives a greater idea of the minuteness of the parts into which matter may actually be divided, than the smallness of those traces, by which so many dictionaries, histories, poems, &c. are transcribed, and so many pictures exactly drawn in miniature *.

§ 11. 6. It is probable the weakness of memory in infants may be one chief cause of their being so long before they come to the use of speech, as well as the want of dexterity in using the organs of it.

a Free-Thinker, No. 72.

ROLLIN'S Man. &c. vol. i. p. 277-279. WATT'S Improv. of the Mind, part i. c. xvii. b ROLLIN's Man. &c. vol. i. p. 279, 280. GREY'S Memoria Technica.

BRUEN'S Life, p. 56-58.

C LOCKE's Ess. 1. 1. c. x. 1 8.

7-18.

d LOCKE's Ess. 1. ii. c. xxxiii.

HARTLEY on Man, Prop. X. XI. vol. i. p. 65-72.

* That memory is an original faculty given us by the author of our being, of which we can give no account, but that we are so made, is maintained by Dr. REID, in his "Essays on the Intellectual Powers of Man," p. 303-310. For an account of the different theories concerning memory, see the same author, p. 338-356. K.

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