Displaying his right hand with the fingers outstretched
he would say, "That is a phantasy," then contracting the fingers a
little, "That is assent," then having closed the fist, "That is
comprehension," then clasping the fist closely with the left hand, he
would add, "That is knowledge."
A notion which corresponds to our word concept was defined as a
phantasm of the understanding of a rational animal. For a notion was
but a phantasm as it presented itself to a rational mind. In the same
way so many shillings and sovereigns are in themselves but shillings
and sovereigns, but when used as passage money they become fare.
Notions were arrived at partly by nature, partly by teaching and
study. The former kind of notions were called preconceptions; the
latter went merely by the generic name.
Out of the general ideas which nature imparts to us, reason was
perfected about the age of fourteen, at the time when the voice--its
outward and visible sign--attains its full development, and when the
human animal is complete in other respects as being able to reproduce
its kind.
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