BOOK I PART III
compatible with each other, and it is impossi-
ble the object can at once exist conformable to
both of them, their influence becomes mutually
destructive, and the mind is determined to the
superior only with that force, which remains,
after subtracting the inferior.
I am sensible how abstruse all this reason-
ing must appear to the generality of readers,
who not being accustomed to such profound
reflections on the intellectual faculties of the
mind, will be apt to reject as chimerical what-
ever strikes not in with the common received
notions, and with the easiest and most obvious
principles of philosophy. And no doubt there
are some pains required to enter into these ar-
guments; though perhaps very little are nec-
essary to perceive the imperfection of every
vulgar hypothesis on this subject, and the lit-