BOOK I PART III
connexion betwixt them, and begin to draw an
inference from one to another. This multiplicity
of resembling instances, therefore, constitutes
the very essence of power or connexion, and
is the source from which the idea of it arises.
In order, then, to understand the idea of power,
we must consider that multiplicity; nor do I ask
more to give a solution of that difficulty, which
has so long perplexed us. For thus I reason.
The repetition of perfectly similar instances can
never alone give rise to an original idea, differ-
ent from what is to be found in any particu-
lar instance, as has been observed, and as ev-
idently follows from our fundamental princi-
ple, that all ideas are copyed from impressions.
Since therefore the idea of power is a new orig-
inal idea, not to be found in any one instance,
and which yet arises from the repetition of sev-
eral instances, it follows, that the repetition