It may appear paradoxical, that ideas can exist, and not be attended to; but all our perceptions are ideas excited by irritation, and succeeded by sensation.  Now when these ideas excited by irritation give us neither pleasure nor pain, we cease to attend to them.  Thus whilst I am walking through that grove before my window, I do not run against the trees or the benches, though my thoughts are strenuously exerted on some other object.  This leads us to a distinct knowledge of irritative ideas, for the idea of the tree or bench, which I avoid, exists on my retina, and induces by association the action of certain locomotive muscles; though neither itself nor the actions of those muscles engage my attention.

Thus whilst we are conversing on this subject, the tone, note, and articulation of every individual word forms its correspondent irritative idea on the organ of hearing; but we only attend to the associated ideas, that are attached by habit to these irritative ones, and are succeeded by sensation; thus when we read the words “PRINTING-PRESS” we do not attend to the shape, size, or existence of the letters which compose these words, though each of them excites a correspondent irritative motion of our organ of vision, but they introduce by association our idea of the most useful of modern inventions; the capacious reservoir of human knowledge, whose branching streams diffuse sciences, arts, and morality, through all nations and all ages.

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SECT.  VIII.

OF SENSITIVE MOTIONS.

I. 1. Sensitive muscular motions were originally excited into action by irritation. 2. And sensitive sensual motions, ideas of imagination, dreams. II. 1. Sensitive muscular motions are occasionally obedient to volition. 2. And sensitive sensual motions. III. 1. Other muscular motions are associated with the sensitive ones. 2. And other sensual motions.

I. 1.  Many of the motions of our muscles, that are excited into action by irritation, are at the same time accompanied with painful or pleasurable sensations; and at length become by habit causable by the sensations.  Thus the motions of the sphincters of the bladder and anus were originally excited into action by irritation; for young children give no attention to these evacuations; but as soon as they become sensible of the inconvenience of obeying these irritations, they suffer the water or excrement to accumulate, till it disagreeably affects them; and the action of those sphincters is then in consequence of this disagreeable sensation.  So the secretion of saliva, which in young children is copiously produced by irritation, and drops from their mouths, is frequently attended with the agreeable sensation produced by the mastication of tasteful food;, till at length the sight of such food to a hungry person excites into action these salival glands; as is seen in the slavering of hungry dogs.