Elements of the philosophy of the human mind. By Dugald Stewart. Rev. and abridged, with critical and explanatory notes, for the use of colleges and schools. By Francis Bowen ...

PHILOSOPHY
OF.
T HE HUMAN MX INI D
CHAPTER I.
OF THE POWTERS OF EXTERNAL PERCEPTION.
I. Of the theories wiichl have been formed by Philosophers, to explain the manner in which the MIND perceives external Objects.Among the various phenomena which the human mind presents
to our view, there is none more calculated to excite our curiosity
and our wonder, than the communication which is carried on
between the sentient, thinking, and active principle within us,
and the material objects with which we are surrounded. How
little soever the bulk of mankind may be disposed to attend to
such inquiries, there is scarcely a person to be found, who has
not occasionally turned his thoughts to that mysterious influence,
which the will possesses over the members of the body; and to
those powers of perception which seems to inform us, by a sort
of inspiration, of the various changes which take place in the
external universe. Of those who receive the advantages of a
liberal education, there are perhaps few, who pass the period of
childhood, without feeling their curiosity excited by this incomprehensible communication between mind and matter. For my
own part, at least, I cannot recollect the date of my earliest
speculations on the subject.