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 ...

CONCEPTION. 79
Some objects ( re conceived more easily thfan others. - The first
remarkable fad which strikes us with respect to conception is,
that we can conceive the objects of some senses much more
easily than those of others. Thus we can conceive an absent
visible object, such as a building that is familiar to us, much
more easily than a particular sound, a particular taste, or a particular pain, which we have formerly felt. It is probable, however, that this power might be improved in the case of some of our
senses. Few people, I believe, are able to form a very distinct
conception of sounds; and yet it is certain, that by practice, a
person may acquire a power of amusing himself with reading
written music. And in the case of poetical numbers, it is universally known, that a reader may enjoy the harmony of the
verse, without articulating the words, even in a whisper. In
such cases, I take for granted, that our pleasure arises from a
very strong conception of the sounds which we have been accustomed to associate with particular written characters.
Why visible objects are easily conceived. The peculiarity in
the case of visible objects, seems to arise from this; that when
we think of a sound or of a taste, the object of our conception
is one single detached sensation; whereas every visible object is
complex; and the conception which we form of it as a whole
is aided by the Association of Ideas. To perceive the force of
this observation, it is necessary to recollect what was formerly
said on the subject of attention. As we cannot at one instant
attend to every point of the picture of an object on the retina,
Shakspeare uses the former of these phrases, and the words imagination
and apprehension as synonymous with each other.
- Who can hold a fire in his hand,
By tlhinking on the frosty Caucasus?
Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite,
By bare imagination of a feast i
Or wallow naked in December's snow,
By thinking on fantastic summer's heat?
Oh no! the apprehension of the good
Gives but the greater feeling to the worse.
K. RICHARD II. Act I Scene 6.