The PREFACE.

plained themselves, so that no one should take their meaning to be that all our ideas are either external sensations or reflex acts upon external sensations. Or if by reflection they mean an inward power of perception, as I imagine they do, I wish they had as carefully examined the several kinds of internal perceptions as they have the external sensations; then we might have seen whether the former are not just as natural and necessary as the latter. Had they similarly considered our affections without a preconceived notion that they all stem from self-love, they might have found an ultimate desire for the happiness of others to be just as easily conceivable, and as certainly implanted in the human breast, though perhaps not as strong as self-love.

T H E Author hopes this imperfect essay will be favorably received,