Conception as the term Conception, which means a taking up in the positive or bundles, or grasping into unity,-this term, I say ought to have been more active left to denote, what it previously was, and only properly could be applied pole of W. Hamilton's "33rd Lecture on Metaphysics." V. 2; p. 262. "Conception consists in a conscious act of the understanding, bringing any given object into the same class with any number of other objects or impressions, by means of some character or characters common to them all. Concipimus, id est, capimus hoc cum illowe take hold of both at once, we comprehend a thing, when we have learnt to comprise it in a known class."-Coleridge, "Church and State, Preliminary Remarks." P. 4. [But suppose I have the conception of a man standing on his head, would not such conception consist simply in the mentally picturing to myself,—that is, in a conscious minding of t perception of a man so standing,—apart from any classification with others? Or also,-have we no conception of the Sun in mid-day brilliancy, apart from the knowledge of other Suns, or its classification with other celestial objects ?-AUTHOR.] "Conception is the forming or bringing an image or idea into the mind by an effort of the will. It is distinguished from sensation and perception produced by an object present to the senses; and from imagination, which is the joining together of ideas in new ways; it is distinguished from memory, by not having the feeling of past time connected with the idea."-Taylor, "Elements of Thought." 27.-Our Conscious Perceptions and Conceptions Reflection. thus act and re-act upon each other, and by thus acting and re-acting, interweave their respective workings as if by reflection into the light of mind, as the sun's rays are wrought by analogous reflection into the light of day-in such manner, namely, as to determine the Idea of Reflection as the Secondary Axis of Instinct, or as the Coordinate Mind Axis of its Spirit-Consciousness. "Reflection creates nothing-can create nothing, everything exists The Idea of previous to reflection in the Consciousness; but everything pre- Reflection as the lighting-up of exists there in confusion and obscurity; it is the work of reflection in adding itself to consciousness to illuminate that which was obscure, to Consciousness develope that which was enveloped. Reflection is for consciousness what the microscope and telescope are for the natural sight. Neither of these instruments makes or changes the objects; but in examining them on every side, in penetrating to their centre, these instruments illuminate them, and discover to us their characteristics and their .ws."-Cousin's History of Modern Philosophy." V. 1; p. 275. "By reflection I would be understood to mean that notice which the mind takes of its own operations, and the manner of them; by reason whereof there come to be ideas of these operations in the understanding. Those two, viz :—external material things, as the objects of Sensation; and the operations of our own minds within, as the objects of reflection are to me the only originals from which all our ideas take their beginnings. The term operations here I use in a large sense, as comprehending not barely the actions of the mind about its ideas, but some sort of passions arising sometimes from them, such as in the satisfaction or uneasiness arising from any thought."—Locke, "Essay on Human Understanding." B. 2; chap. 1. "If we limit the term Reflection in conformity to its original employment and proper signification,—an attention to the internal phenomena-reflection will be an expression for self-consciousness concentrated."-Sir W. Hamilton's 20th Lecture on Metaphysics. V. 2; p. 11-12. "Reflection on itself is the distinguishing characteristic of a stage or mode of Consciousness. Consciousness first understands objects, that is, phenomena are first a collection of feelings or matter indifferently in time and space; then it reflects on itself, or what is the same thing, on the phenomena. with reflection. A new light dawns . S. H. Hodgson's "Time and Space." Common Sense and Thought. 28. The Idea of Reflection, is, however, thence also both negative or passive, and positive or active; for Perception and Conception by their inter-reflections and consequent minglings, lay in the first place the groundwork of Common Sense-a Sense, namely, in which our perceptions and conceptions constitute not only One Common State-but also a Common or Habitual State of reflected consciousness, and rise in the second place, by further action and re-action upon each other when so mingled, stimulated moreover by the accretions of new matter, into the activity, or positivity, of Thought. The Ideas of Common Sense and Thought are thus the Co-ordinate Poles of the Idea of Reflection; and that of Common-Sense its Negative Pole or Basis, but Thought its positive Pole, for to think and to reflect are by common usage synonymous. A practised Detective will often arrive, by a sort of Common Sense divination, at the conviction of the guilt or innocence of a suspected Reflection and Thought-Re person, which ultimately turns out to be correct; and yet he could not flection convey to another any adequate reasons for his assurance, which depends as opposite upou the impression made upon his Ego by minutiae of look, tone, Polarities. gesture, or manner, which have little or no significance to ordinary observers, but which his specially-cultured Common-Sense instinctively appreciates. Such a case differs from the scientific recognition of the phenomena of nature by the trained observer, and the interpretation of them by the sagacious reasoner, in this:-That while their experience enables them not only to see what would escape ordinary notice, but to attach the highest significance (as in the case of Spectroscopic inquiry), to indications which might seem of the most trivial character, they can always explain their reasons for doing so. Thus the recognition of the gaseous condition of certain nebula (as distinguished from those which are very remote clusters of stars), by the nature of certain lines in spectra that are themselves so faint as to be only visible to the trained vision of a Huggins or a Lockyer, is effected by the dianoia; whilst the immediate divination of the detective is the work of his nous.-The Contemporary Review, Feby., 1872. Art. "What is Common Sense." P. 415. The distinction between Common Sense' and 'Ratiocination,' or the 'Discursive power,' is regarded by Sir William Hamilton as equivalent to that which the Greek philosophers meant to indicate by the terms nous and dianoia; and our colloquial use of the former, as corresponding to that cultivated Common Sense which is often distinguished as good sense' is thereby justified. Antiquity and universality of the term There are, however, two principal forms of this capacity, which it is desirable clearly to distinguish :-The first is what the philosopher means by Common Sense, when he attributes to it the formation of those original convictions or ultimate beliefs, which cannot be resolved into simpler elements, and which are accepted by every normally-constituted human being as direct cognitions of his own mental states. 66 It is the second, however, which constitutes what is popularly meant by Common Sense,' as in the following passage from a recent newspaper article on the " Dangers of the London Season." Any builder for a few pounds may save us from the dangers of the sewers; but nothing short of unpurchasable common sense will preserve us from the deadly effects of our gaieties." This form of common sense, though the possession of mankind in general, varies greatly, as to both range and degree, among different individuals; serving, however, to each as his guide in the ordinary affairs of life.-The Contemporary Review, Feby., 1872. Art "What is Common Sense? P. 402. "The term Common Sense has likewise been applied to designate the. place of principles. This word is also ambiguous. In the first place, it was the expression used in the Aristotelic philosophy, to denote the Common Sense Central or Common Sensory, in which the different external senses met and were united. In the second place, it was employed to signify a sound understanding applied to vulgar objects, in contrast to a scientific or speculative intelligence, and it is in this signification that it has been taken by those who have derided the principle on which the philosophy, which has been distinctively denominated the Scottish, professes to be established. This is not, however, the meaning which has always or even principally been attached to it; and an incomparably stronger case might be made out in defence of this expression than has been done by Reid, or even by Mr. Stewart. It is in fact a term of high antiquity, and very general acceptation In modern times it is to be found |