BOOK I PART IV
that a certain number of smells, conjoined with
a certain number of sounds, may make a body
of twelve cubic inches; which appears ridicu-
lous upon the bare mentioning of it.
But though in this view of things we cannot
refuse to condemn the materialists, who con-
join all thought with extension; yet a little re-
flection will show us equal reason for blaming
their antagonists, who conjoin all thought with
a simple and indivisible substance. The most
vulgar philosophy informs us, that no exter-
nal object can make itself known to the mind
immediately, and without the interposition of
an image or perception. That table, which just
now appears to me, is only a perception, and all
its qualities are qualities of a perception. Now
the most obvious of all its qualities is exten-
sion. The perception consists of parts. These