BOOK I PART IV
porter and letter in a certain light, they are con-
tradictions to common experience, and may be
regarded as objections to those maxims, which
we form concerning the connexions of causes
and effects. I am accustomed to hear such a
sound, and see such an object in motion at the
same time. I have not received in this particular
instance both these perceptions. These obser-
vations are contrary, unless I suppose that the
door still remains, and that it was opened with-
out my perceiving it: And this supposition,
which was at first entirely arbitrary and hypo-
thetical, acquires a force and evidence by its be-
ing the only one, upon which I can reconcile
these contradictions. There is scarce a moment
of my life, wherein there is not a similar in-
stance presented to me, and I have not occasion
to suppose the continued existence of objects,
in order to connect their past and present ap-