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All our emotions are either of one or the other class, and derive their different names, either from the causes which produce them, the circumstances which attend them, or the effects they produce.

There are several terms which signify simply a pleasurable state of mind, without reference to the causes or effects, such as pleasure, satisfaction, enjoyment, &c.

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There are other terms which signify simply a painful state of mind without reference to any other circumstances, such as pain, sorrow, grief, affliction, &c.

The following are pleasurable states of mind, including the idea of some cause, effect or circumstance connected with them.

Hope is a pleasurable state of mind arising from a view of some good, which is desired and expected. Esteem, love, veneration and reverence are pleasurable emotions in view of certain qualities in intelligent minds. Gratitude is a pleasurable emotion occasioned by receiving some benefit from another. Emotions of taste are caused by exhibitions of beauty, grandeur, novelty, order, and fitness of design, or of conduct. Surprise, wonder, astonishment, and admiration, are some of the specific names of the emotions of taste. Emotions of the ludicrous, produce laughter. Pleasurable moral emotions are such as are caused by viewing any action of our own, or of others, as right or virtuous.

The following are names of certain painful states of mind, I which include some idea, either of the causes, effects, or circumstances connected with them.

Pity or compassion is a painful state of mind in view of some object which is suffering pain or sorrow. Repentance and remorse are painful states of mind caused by viewing our own conduct as wrong. Fear is a painful state of mind occasioned by foreseeing some future suffering either to ourselves or others. Envy is a painful emotion in view of certain happiness possessed by others of which we are destitute. Anger,

wrath, fury and rage are painful states of mind occasioned by some evil inflicted on ourselves or others, and is attended by a desire of evil to the author. Malice, spite, hatred, and malignity are painful states of mind occasioned by a desire of evil to others. Jealousy is a painful state of mind occasioned by seeing the affection we desire withheld from us, and given to another. Desperation and despair are painful states of mind occasioned by the loss of all hope of future good.

Sympathy is the power the mind possesses of experiencing such emotions as are realized to exist in another mind.

Desire is a state of mind which is caused by the view of a certain object which has been the cause of enjoyment, or which it is believed can become so..

Emotions is another name for feelings or susceptibilities.

Other Mental Phenomena, not usually classified.

Instinct, a desire awakened in the mind to do a certain action, without any knowledge from past experience of the good it will secure.

Habit, a tendency of the mind to perform certain acts, or a facility in performing them acquired by the previous repetition of such acts.

Dreams. The conceptions of the mind during sleep.

Excited conceptions. Uncommon modes of conception, ordinarily occasioned by some derangement of the animal system.

Mental alienation, or derangement, the state of mind which is unnatural, and in which the laws of mental phenomena seem destroyed.

Belief is a state of mind caused by evidence.

On the Definitions and Classification of Mental Philosophy.

In regard to definitions, Mental Philosophy has this advantage over every other science, that the ideas to be defined

already exist in the mind, so that nothing is wanting, but such a description as will enable a person to determine, in what circumstances, or at what times, the given state of mind occurs, without making it necessary to express its nature and quality by language. In attempting to define on other subjects new combinations of ideas are to be conveyed, and there is danger of deception in definitions. But in regard to the acts and emotions of the mind, nothing is wanting but to ascertain which specific exercise is intended, and then to apply the name.

This consideration obviates the difficulties which many seem to feel, both in regard to the propriety of the names given, and of the terms used in describing the states of the mind intended. For if the person who seeks to understand the science can receive such a description of any particular state of mind, as to ascertain what one is intended by the writer, it is of little consequence what name is given, or what definition is employed. The mind of the individual is conscious of the nature of the idea intended, and no name or description can deceive him as to its nature. All that should be aimed at in a definition, is such a description as enables the reader to determine what particular state of mind is intended. In regard to this classification of the powers and operations of mind, it may be remarked, that writers on Mental Philosophy have differed, not only in reference to the names employed, but also as to the propriety of the modes of classification.

The most general classification, viz. the Intellectual Powers, the Susceptibilities, and the Will, is one which has been recognized in almost all languages, and by most writers on this subject. Some however have placed the Will in the class of the Susceptibilities, considering it the same as Desire.

Some writers have chosen to simplify, and resolve Conception, Memory, and Imagination, into one faculty called Memory. Others choose to subdivide still more and provide different operations of memory with separate names.

Brown resolves all the intellectual powers except Perception into two, which he calls Simple Suggestion, and Relative Suggestion;—which names represent the same states as Conception and Judgment. Conception, he calls Simple Suggestion, and Judgment, he calls Relative Suggestion.

It doubtless is true, that all ideas which are not perceptions, are conceptions, and that conceptions are some of them, attended by feelings of relations, and some are not. But seeing that there really does exist such distinctions between Memory, Conception, Imagination, Abstraction, &c. as has been pointed out, and that names have been given, recognizing these distinctions, and universally incorporated into both written and spoken language, it seems useless and impracticable to attempt, either to destroy these distinctions, or banish the terms which recognize them. It will be as unavailing as attempting to destroy the classification of the animal world, by showing that there was a foundation for reducing a certain portion of animals to two classes, quadrupeds and bipeds, and that therefore all more specific names and classification should be given up.

It seems to be too late to quarrel either with the classification or the names employed in this science. All that is now to be done by the student is, to discover what operations of mind are intended, and the various names used to designate them, and thus learn to attach the right idea to the several

terms.

In doing this, it will be found that most writers on this subject, though they differ as to the expediency of names and classification, all agree in attaching the same meaning to the terms employed, when they use them. It is believed the preceding definitions will be found sanctioned by the most approved writers on this subject.

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CHAPTER II.

SENSATION AND PERCEPTION.

As there is no distinction between Sensation and Perception, except in the fact, that one is attended with the belief of a cause, and the other is not, they will be treated of together.

The mind of man is an immaterial existence, confined in its operations by the matter of the body it inhabits, and depending upon the construction and modifications of this material envelope for much of its happiness or suffering.

The exercise of the imagination when the eyes are closed, the body at rest, and in a state of perfect ease, will probably give us the best idea of what is the nature of spiritual existence when disconnected with matter. It is one of the offices of our bodily system, to retain the spirit in its operations in one particular place, so that it can have direct communion with no other mind, which is not in the same place. Whether this is the case with mere spiritual existence, is a question for conjecture and not for any satisfactory rational decision. While the spirit of man is resident in its material frame, it is furnished with facilities of communication with other minds, and with organs which fit it to receive suffering or enjoyment from the material objects by which it is surrounded.

These organs of communication are the several senses. They consist of expansions of the substance of which the brain is formed, which descending through the spinal bone of the back, are thence sent out in thousands of ramifications, over the whole animal system. Those branches which enter the eyes, and are spread over the interior back part of this organ are called the optic nerve. Whenever the particles of light, (which are supposed to be matter moving with immense velocity,) enter the eye, they

infinitely small particles of

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