what is given him. If he has but one moral talent, it is not to be presumed that the same amount of moral responsibility rests upon him as upon another who possesses ten. The doctrine which requires men, considered as subjects of reward and punishment, to be treated alike, without regard to those original diversities of structure which may exist in all the departments of the mind, not only tends to confound right and wrong, but is abhorrent to the dictates of benevolence. Many individuals, through a misunderstanding of this important subject, have suffered under the hands of the executioner, who, on principles of religion and strict justice, should have been encircled only in the arms of compassion, long-suffering, and charity.

CHAPTER V.

CASUAL ASSOCIATIONS IN CONNEXION WITH THE SENSIBILITIES.

339. Frequency of casual associations, and some instances of them. In the first volume of this Work, which had especial relation to the INTELLECT, we gave some instances of Casual Association, directing our attention to those that were of great strength, and were wholly caused by accidental circumstances. Reference was made to the casual associations in respect to the place of sensation, the ideas of extension and time, of extension and colour, &c. It is necessary, however, to resume the consideration of the subject in this place, and to illustrate the vast power which the laws of ASSOCIATION possess over the Sensitive as well as over the Intellectual part of our nature.

By a thousand circumstances and in thousands of instances, the feelings are wrenched from their natural position, and shoot forth and show themselves in misplaced and disproportionate forms. Casual associations, in the shape of antipathies, fears, aversions, prepossessions, remorse, &c., are found seated in many a mind, which is otherwise unembarrassed and unexceptionable in its action; they have established their empire there on immove

able foundations, and are incorporated with the whole mental nature.

If it were otherwise, how could a man that would willingly face a thousand men in battle, tremble at a mouse, a squirrel, a thunder-shower, at the trivial circumstance of placing the left slipper on the right foot, or any other very trifling thing! And yet such instances are without number. It may be considered singular enough, but so it is, that some men cannot endure the sight of a fish, eel, or lobster; another person is disgusted at the sight of cheese, honey, eggs, milk, or apples; another is exceedingly distressed and even convulsed at the sight of a toad or a cat, a grasshopper or a beetle.

◊ 340. Of association in connexion with the appetites.

We now proceed to give a few illustrations of this interesting subject, which has hitherto received so little attention. In doing this, it may be incidentally remarked, that the instinctive tendencies in man, which are but few in number, are in their own nature of such a fixed and decided character, as apparently to be placed, in a great measure, beyond the reach of association. But it is not so with the Appetites. On the contrary, they are subject to very strong influences from that source, as will appear by some statements.

(I.) Almost every article which is capable of being masticated and digested, is made, in one country or another, an article of food. It is the case, at the same time, that there are many articles used as food in one country which are not used as food in another. This difference in the manner of living is to be ascribed, in many cases, to some early and fixed association. In some countries the people eat rats, mice, frogs, lizards, horse-flesh, dogs, locusts, caterpillars, &c.* In other countries, in our own for instance, the associations adverse to the use of such kinds of food are so strong, that it is next to impossible to overcome them.

(II.) There are appetitive associations of a different kind. It is well known, for instance, that the appetite

* Lander's Niger, vol. i., Am. ed., p. 170, 179.-Lives of Celebrated Travellers, vol. i., Am. ed., p. 102, 215..

for drink may be inflamed by a mere name, or the sight of a particular building or place, or the return of a certain hour of the day. This unquestionably is the result of a casual association. And the association may have become so strong, that the appetite is rendered wholly irrepressible whenever such objects recur.-This is particularly true when the liquor itself, the rum, gin, wine, or brandy, is placed directly before the thorough-going drunkard. The appetite in a moment becomes so strong as to convulse the whole soul. He is agitated and rent with a sort of madness; and rushes upon the object before him much as the furious lion seizes and rends his keeper when he has accidentally seen and tasted his blood.

341. Of casual associations in connexion with the propensities.

As we pass on from the Appetites to the consideration of that part of our Sentient nature which was examined under the head of the Propensities, we find some instances of the power of association, both in strengthening and in annulling them.-Among other Propensities which have a distinct and natural origin, is the desire of society; but it is undoubtedly the case, that peculiar circumstances may operate either to increase this desire or to annul it altogether. All cases of decided and permanent Misanthropy, for instance, are the work, with perhaps a few exceptions, of congenital alienation, not of nature, but of circumstances. If a man of kind and benevolent feelings is exceedingly ill treated by one whom he has often favoured, it is possible, at least, that it will result in a fixed aversion to that person, which nothing can afterward overcome.

If a deep and permanent injury were inflicted, not merely by a friend, but a brother, the effect on the mind might be so great as not only to break up the original principle of sociability, but implant a decided and unchangeable hostility to the whole human race.

Such

treatment would be so contrary from what the injured person had a right to expect, that the mind would be thrown entirely out of its original position, and with such force as to be unable to recover it.

VOL. II.- M M

342. Other instances of casual association in connexion with the

propensities.

The desire of power, in the remarks which were formerly made upon that subject, was regarded as an original propensity. This principle may become disordered in its action by becoming inordinately intense, and also in connexion with some casual association. Mr. Locke, in his Letters on Toleration, mentions the case of an individual, whose mind was so long and intently fixed upon some high object that he became partially insane. He was, for the most part, rational at other times; but, whenever the object he had so earnestly pursued was mentioned, it brought into exercise so many intense associations, that he immediately became deranged.

Although we might find it difficult to illustrate this subject from the ordinary forms of the propensity to Imitation, the power of casual associations may distinctly be shown in sympathetic imitation. If a person's feelings be from any cause so strongly excited as to show themselves in involuntary bodily action, subsequently the mere sight of the person, place, or instrument that was prominently concerned in the original excitement of the mind, will generally be attended with a recurrence of the sympathetic bodily action. After such results have followed a number of times, the association will become so strong, that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for the sympathetic person to repress the outward bodily signs in all cases coming within the reach of the association.

§ 343. Inordinate fear from casual associations.

The same views may undoubtedly be carried into the higher department of the Affections or Passions. It is sufficiently evident, for instance, that the passion of FEAR is an attribute of man's nature; and, in ordinary cases, it is susceptible of being subjected to the control of reason and the sentiments of duty. But this is not always the case. Casual associations are sometimes formed which no effort of reason and no calls of duty can rend asunder. We will endeavour to illustrate this subject by some familiar instances.

Some persons have been exceedingly frightened by

thunder and lightning at early periods of life. The fright may have been occasioned either directly, or by the actual terrific power and nearness of the explosion, or by merely seeing an exhibition of great fear in parents or others more advanced in years. And from that hour to the end of life, they have never been able, with all possible care and anxiety, to free themselves from the most distressing fear on such occasions.

And

Casual associations, occasioned by some unfortunate circumstances in early life, have been the source of very great and irresistible fears in respect to death. The fear of death is natural, and perhaps, we may say, is instinctive; but it does not ordinarily exist in such intensity as essentially to interrupt one's happiness. yet, from time to time, we find unhappy exceptions to this statement. Miss Hamilton, in her Letters on Education, gives an interesting account of a lady who suffered exceedingly from such fears. She was a person of an original and inventive genius, of a sound judgment, and her powers of mind had received a careful cultivation. But all this availed nothing against the impressions which had been wrought into her mind from infancy. The first view which she had of death in her infancy was accompanied with peculiar circumstances of terror; and the dreadful impression which was then made was heightened by the injudicious language of the nursery. Ever afterward, the mere mention or idea of death was attended with great suffering; so much so, that it was necessary, by means of every possible precaution, to keep her in ignorance of her actual danger when she was sick; nor was it permitted at any time to mention instances of death in her presence. So that the estimable writer of this statement asserts, that she often suffered more from the apprehension than she could have suffered from the most agonizing torture that ever attended the hour of dissolution.*

§ 344. Casual associations in respect to persons.

That the Affections may be more or less disordered by means of casual associations, is further evident from what * Elementary Principles of Education, Letter iii.