come within the reach of our senses, we may surely maintain that the operations of the human mind, and the laws of their connexion and succession, may be ascertained with as much accuracy as the phenomena of the external world, and the order in which they are conjoined. We cannot, indeed, in one sense, subject the phenomena of mind to the test of experiment, but we can do that which amounts to the same thing, we can carefully examine the operations, not only of our own intellectual and moral faculties, but observe the result of these operations, in the history of man, as delineated in books, and as it is presented to our view in the diversified circumstances of society. If the phenomena which fall within the province of the chemist and natural philosopher are almost infinite in number and variety, they cannot be less so in a science whose object is the ever-varying aspect of human thought, and the aggregated products resulting from it. This great variety, united to the frequency with which the same phenomena, in precisely similar circumstances, may be investigated, affords the same advantage to the moral philosopher which experiment gives to

who confines his attention to physical

even chemistry, is more susceptible he philosophy of the human mind. ytic in the same sense as chemistry, mposes and reduces substances to their y We cannot in the same manner s of the mind; but we can at all ciated aggregations of which our as are composed, to the simple

and elementary principles and affections in which they have their origin. It is quite possible for us to separate the combinations of thought and feeling which exist in our mind into what may be truly called their elementary parts; and by repeating this analytic process, to arrive at conclusions of equal importance and certainty as those which are obtained in the physical sciences by the most rigorous induction.

In connexion with this subject, I may notice an objection which has been more recently made to the utility of moral philosophy. It has been said that this is a science in which no discoveries can ever be hoped to be made, since the rudest clown, in every age of the world, could tell us what it is to know, and feel, and think, and hear, and see, as well as the most skilful and accomplished metaphysician can. This ob. jection, however, proves too much, since it may be said of all sciences that its elementary principles are known equally to all. Are not the numbers and the figures that form the basis of the mathematical sciences understood by many, who cannot tell either the nature or the objects of mathematical reasonings? And is the study of these to be regarded as useless, because the elements of which they are composed are known to the multitude almost as well as to the philosopher? It is so far from being true that the human mind is so narrow in the range of its phenomena as to render an investigation of its operations, with the hope of augmenting the sum of our knowledge, an abortive undertaking, that there is no branch of science more extensive, or which presents more pleasing and useful results than that which it offers to our contemplation.

If we were to follow the history of one passion, from its earliest workings in the mind through the whole progress of life, how numerous and diversified are the circumstances which we should find resulting from it! We should observe the same passion producing dissimilar effects, according to the different situations in which it is developed. The child who wished to be distinguished in the domestic circle, and whose very love of distinction seemed to be the pleasing omen of future eminence, cannot be viewed with the same feelings, when, at a future period, he is impelled by the same passion to all the atrocities of lawless ambition. The human character, in both situations, is influenced by the same common principle of our common nature; but that very principle, when modified by a change of circumstances, and stimulating to the attainment of dissimilar objects, as in the present case, exhibits phenomena extremely different.

With the inductive method of philosophizing, as taught by Lord Bacon, and exemplified in the school of Newton, we cannot be too familiar; since it bears as close a relation to the acquisition of real knowledge, as the characters and grammar of any language to an understanding of its idiom and use. To know accurately the best means which we should employ for the attainment of a particular end, is in any case a useful attainment. But in the present instance this acquisition is the more valuable, since the experience of the dark, as well as of the enlightened ages, affords incontestable proof, that the only way of advancing in our acquaintance either with the phenomena of matter or

of mind, is by a careful and patient comparison and observation of facts, and by a cautious induction of inferences.

4. Having noticed the process of analysis, it may be proper in this place to make a few observations on the nature of synthesis, as contrasted with it. Analysis simply signifies, unless it be in geometry, where its meaning is somewhat peculiar, a resolution of any combination, whether of matter or of thought, into its component parts. There is no science in which we have more beautiful illustrations of this process than in chemistry. A single experiment in which any substance is decomposed, and resolved into its constituent elements, impresses its nature and its use upon the mind more effectually than any other mode whatever. Here we see the several substances existing in a compound, which no mechanical force can separate, passing through a certain process by which they are as perfectly removed from each other as if they had never been combined. It is by an analogous process, also called analysis, that we must proceed in every branch of philosophy in ascertaining the simple and general laws on which the complicated phenomena of the universe depend. Before we can come

* The word is derived from avazów, resolvo: in mathematics it denotes that process "by which a proposition is traced up, through a chain of necessary dependence, to some known operation, or some admitted principle. It is alike applicable to the investigation of truth in a theorem, or the discovery of the construction of a problem. Analysis, as its name imports, is thus a sort of inverted form of solution. Assuming the hypothesis advanced, it remounts step by step, till it has reached a source already explored. The reverse of this process constitutes synthesis or composition, which is the mode usually employed for explaining the elements of science. Analysis, therefore, presents the medium of invention, while synthesis naturally directs the course of instruction."

to a conclusion, for example, as to the universality of the law of gravitation, we must previously be satisfied as to the universality of the facts on which it is founded; if the facts are precisely similar in similar circumstances, to the utmost extent of human observation, the most rigid induction entitles us to refer them to the same cause, whose operation is as general as its effects. Analysis, then, is to be considered as affording the means, in certain cases, and in reference to some sciences, of examining more fully the phenomena of nature, and of making the inductions of its laws more perfect.

The method of synthesis, as its name imports, is the opposite of analysis. As the latter consists in the solution of any thing, whether corporeal or mental, into its first elements, so the former, agreeably to its etymological signification, simply means the act of joining together, or combining into one, substances which were before separate. Of this process, also, chemistry affords us the most striking illustrations. When When any two bodies, such, for example, as water and common salt, are united together in consequence of chemical attraction, so that neither of them can be separated from each other by any mechanical force, the chemist denominates the process, which has accomplished this result, synthesis.

Having obtained by analysis a knowledge of the general laws on which the phenomena of nature depend, we may safely proceed to carry on our reasonings in the way of synthesis, as to the effects resulting from any given combination of them. One of the chief advantages of this method is, to confirm the convictions