BOOK II PART II
touch upon two principles, one of which shall
be more fully explained in the progress of this
treatise; the other has been already accounted
for. I believe it may safely be established for
a general maxim, that no object is presented
to the senses, nor image formed in the fancy,
but what is accompanyed with some emotion
or movement of spirits proportioned to it; and
however custom may make us insensible of
this sensation and cause us to confound it with
the object or idea, it will be easy, by careful
and exact experiments, to separate and distin-
guish them. For to instance only in the cases of
extension and number; it is evident, that any
very bulky object, such as the ocean, an ex-
tended plain, a vast chain of mountains, a wide
forest: or any very numerous collection of ob-
jects, such as an army, a fleet, a crowd, excite
in the mind a sensible emotion; and that the