BOOK I PART III
we feel internally in contemplating them. And
this I carry so far, that I am ready to convert
my present reasoning into an instance of it, by
a subtility, which it will not be difficult to com-
prehend.
When any object is presented to us, it imme-
diately conveys to the mind a lively idea of that
object, which is usually found to attend it; and
this determination of the mind forms the neces-
sary connexion of these objects. But when we
change the point of view, from the objects to
the perceptions; in that case the impression is to
be considered as the cause, and the lively idea
as the effect; and their necessary connexion is
that new determination, which we feel to pass
from the idea of the one to that of the other.
The uniting principle among our internal per-
ceptions is as unintelligible as that among ex-