"To account for the idea of time, it appears to me to be sufficient to attend to a few well known facts, viz. that impressions made by external objects remain a certain space of time in the mind, that this time is different according to the strength, and other circumstances of the impression, and that traces of these impressions, i. e. ideas, may be recalled after the intervention of other trains of ideas, and at very different intervals."
— Priestley, Joseph (1733-1804)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Johnson
Date
1775
Metaphor
"To account for the idea of time, it appears to me to be sufficient to attend to a few well known facts, viz. that impressions made by external objects remain a certain space of time in the mind, that this time is different according to the strength, and other circumstances of the impression, and that traces of these impressions, i. e. ideas, may be recalled after the intervention of other trains of ideas, and at very different intervals."
Metaphor in Context
To account for the idea of time, it appears to me to be sufficient to attend to a few well known facts, viz. that impressions made by external objects remain a certain space of time in the mind, that this time is different according to the strength, and other circumstances of the impression, and that traces of these impressions, i. e. ideas, may be recalled after the intervention of other trains of ideas, and at very different intervals. If I look upon a house, and then shut my eyes, the impression it has made upon my mind does not immediately vanish; I can contemplate the idea of the house as long as I please; and also, by the help of a variety of associated circumstances, the idea of the house may be recalled several years afterwards.
(p. xxxix)
(p. xxxix)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 4 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1775, 1776, 1790).
See Hartley’s Theory of the Human Mind, on the Principle of the Association of Ideas; With Essays Relating to the Subject of It. By Joseph Priestley, LL. D. F. R. S. (London: Printed for J. Johnson, No. 72, St. Paul’s Church-Yard, 1775). <Link to ESTC>
See Hartley’s Theory of the Human Mind, on the Principle of the Association of Ideas; With Essays Relating to the Subject of It. By Joseph Priestley, LL. D. F. R. S. (London: Printed for J. Johnson, No. 72, St. Paul’s Church-Yard, 1775). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
07/22/2011
