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Show __..:6.. o Secundary 0!_alities. Book II, ______ _ · yet we look on Light and Warmth to be .rea!QI!.alitier, fomethinf;i more than bare Powers in the Sun. Whereas, tf nghtly confidered, thele ~alities of Light and Warmth, which are Percepti?ns. in the, when I am warmed, or enlightned by the S~n~ are no otherwtfe m the S~n, than the changes made in the Wax, whert tt IS blahched or melted, are m the Sun. They arc all of them .e'!ually Powers in the Sun,depending on its primary Qgalities ; whereby tt ts able m the. one cafe, fo to alter the Bulk, F tgurc, Texture or Motion of fomc of the mfenfible parts of my Eyes, or Hands, as thereby to produce in me the Ideas ofLight, or Heat; and in the other it is able fo to alter the Bulk, Ftgure, Texture, or Matton of the in· fendble Parts of theWax,as to make them tit to produce ih me the difhntl: Ideas of White and Fluid. §. ~5· The Reafon, Why tbe one are ordinarily taken for real Qgalitier, a•d t/;e other only for bare Powers, feems to be, becaufe the Ideas we have of difl:inct Colours, Sounds, I!! c. contttining nothing at all in them, of Bulk, Figure, or Motion, we are not apt to think them the Effect of thefe primary QJ\alities! which appear not to our Senfes to operate in their Production; and wtth whtch, they have not any apparent Congruity, or conceivable Connexion. Hence it is, that we are fo forward to imagine, that thofe Ideas are the refemblances of fomething really cxifl .. ing in the Objects themfelves: Since Senfation difcovers nothing of Bulk Figure, or Motion of p:irts in their Production ; nor can Realon !hew: how Bodies by their Bulk, Figure, and Motions, !hould produce in tho Mind the Ideas of Blue, or Yellow, &c. But in the other Cafe, in the Operations of Bodies, changing the ~alities one of another, we plainly difcover, that the ~ality produced, hath commonly no refemblance with any thing in the thing producing it; wherefore we look on it as a bare Effetl: of Power, For tho?gh ~eceiving the [dea of Heat, or Light, from the Sun, we arc apt to thmk, tts a Perceptton and Refemblance of f~ch a ~ality in the Sun: yet when we fee Wax, or a fair Face, receive change of Colour from the Sun, we cannot imagine that to be the Recc· ption, or Refemblance of any thing in the Sun, becaufe we lind not tbofe different Colours in the Sun it felf. For our Senfes, being able to obferve a likenefs, or unlikene!s of fenlible ~ali ties in two different external O!J. jetl:s, we forwardly enough conclude the Production of any fenfible Q.ua· lity in any Subject, to be an Effect of bare Power, and not the Commu· nication of any ~ality, which was really in the efficient, when we find no fuch fenfibl~ ~ality in the thing that produced it. But our Senfes, not being able to difcover any unlikenefs betw~n the Idea produced in us, and the ~a !tty of the Obje8: producmg tt, we are apt to ima~;ine, that our Ideas are refemblances .of fometlung m the Objetl:s, and not the ~~cts ~f certam Po:vers,placed m.the Modtfieatto" of their primary~a· littes, Wtth wluch pnmary QJ\altttesthe !dear produced in us havenorc• femblance. • §: 16. To conclude,belidethofe before mentioned primary Qgalitier in Bodtes, vtz. Bulk, Ftgure, Extenfion, Number, and Motion of their folid Parts; aU tl\erefl:,whcreby we takenoticeofBodies,anddiilingui!h them o~e from another, are notlung elfe, but feveral Powers in them, depen· dmg on thofc pnmary ~alities;whereby they ate litted,either by immedi· ately opcratmg on our Bodies, to produce feveral different Ideas in us; or elfe by operattcg on other Bodies,. fo to change their primary Qtjalities, as to render them capable of produc10g Ideas ill us, different from what before they dtd .. The former of d1efe, I think, may be called Secundary ~alwu, tmmeJzately percetvaUr: The later, Secundary Q.y_alitier, mt· .ll4tely perceivable. C HAP. Chap. IX. Perception. CHAP. IX. Of Perception. §. 1. I) Ercept ion, as it is the lirfl: faculty of the Mind, cxercifed about our Ideas; foit is theflrfi and fimplefl: Ide4We have from Re· fleCtion, and is by fome called Thinking in general. Though Thinking, in the propriety of the Englifh Tongue, figmfies that -fort of operation of the Mind about its ldea.r, wherein the Mind is active; where it with fome degree of voluntary attention , conffders any thing. For in bare naked PerceptiOII, the Mmd ts, for the moll part, onlypaillve; and what it perct:ives,itcannt>t avoid perceiving .. §. 2.. WIJar Perceptioli iJ, every one Wtll know better, by reflecting on what he does himfelf, when he fees, hears, feels, &c. or thinks, than by .anv difcourfe of mine. Whoever reflects on what palres in himfelfin his O\\;n Mind, cannot mifs it: And if he does not refleCl, all the words in the World, cannot make him have any notion of it. §.3. This is certain,That whatever ~Iterations are made in the Body, ifchey reach not theMmd; whatever 1mpreillons arc made on the outward parts, if they arc not taken notice of within, there is no Perception. Fire may burn our Bodies, with no other effect than it does a Billet, unlefs the motion be continued to the Brain; and there the fertfe of Heat, or /Jea of Pain, be produced in the Mind, wherein £onfifu aEiaal Per• reption. §. 4· How often may a Man obfer:-e in himfelf, that whilfl: his Mind is intently employ'a in the contemplation of fome Objects;. and curioufly furveyingfome Ideas that arc there, ·tt takes no nottce of tmpreillons, of founding Bodies, which are brought in, though the fame alteration be made upon the Organ of Hearing, that ufes to be for the producing the Idea of a Sound ? A fuflicient impulfe there may be on the Organ; but it not reaching the obfervation of the Mind, there follows no perception : And though the motion that ufes to produce the Idea of Sound, be made in the Ear, yet no found is heard. Want of Senfation in this cafe, is not through any defect ift the Organ, or that his Ears :ire lefs affected than at other times , when he does hear : but that which ufes, to produce the Idea, though conveyed in by the ufual Orgart, not being taken notice of in the Undedlanding, there follows no Senfation. So that w/;ere·ever there iJ Senfe, or Perception, t!Jere jome Idea is aEiuafly produced, and pre• font in tbe Vnderjla•tling. §. 5· Therefore I doubt not but CiJilt!ren, by the exetcife of their Senfes about Objects, that affect them in the Womb, recetve fome few JdetM, before they are born, as the unavoidable effetl:s, either of the Bodies that, environ them, or elfe of thofe Wants or Dlfeafes they fuffer; amongfi which, ( if one may conjecture concerning things not very capable of ex· amination) I think, the Ideas of Hunger and Warmth are two: wlucb probably are fomc of the firfl: that Children have, and which they fcarce ever part with again. . §. 6. But though it be reafonable to imagine , that Cl;i/dren recetve fome !de{/J before they come into the World, yet thefe fimple Ideas are far from chafe innate Pri•ciples, which fome contend for, and we above have rejeCte-d. Thefc here mentioned, being the effetl:sof Senfatwn, are ooly 61 |
