their communication to others, or for a
record in written characters, _can_ be more rapid than the intelligible
pronunciation of the words themselves, and which, when delivered in
quick succession, leave the short-hand-writer behind.[7]

As Ideas can be nothing more than the mere phantasms attendant on visual
perception, which, like the perceptions of the other senses, are
commuted for words, that, by the aid of memory, recall in their absence
the objects that have been perceived; it would be difficult to suppose
that Ideas could fortuitously or voluntarily assemble in a more rapid
succession, than the words for which they have been commuted, without
producing confusion. It frequently happens to inexperienced persons, in
giving evidence before a legal tribunal, or in addressing a popular
assembly, that they cannot proceed; and they are generally disposed to
interpret this failure, to their thoughts occurring in a succession too
rapid for their utterance. Allowing the apology to be correct, it is a
proof that such rapidity is inconvenient, and renders the Thought wholly
useless if it cannot be communicated.

When we attentively measure the steps of our own minds in the act of
thinking, and also observe the progress of others, it will be found that
effective Thought does not result from this rapid and tumultuous rush of
Ideas; but is a very deliberate, and in many cases painful elaboration:
and must, when committed to writing, be subjected to subsequent revisals
and repeated corrections, and which must be applied to the _words_
constituting the sentence in which the thought is contained. From this
general view of the subject, it is concluded that Ideas, the residuary
phantasms of visual perception, cannot directly constitute or become the
immediate instruments of Thought.

The present Essay being considered an humble attempt to investigate a
portion of intellectual physiology, an apology will scarcely be deemed
necessary for a short digression to inquire into the powers and
faculties of the human mind: and which, when determined, may be viewed
as the alphabet of mental science.

Systems prematurely constructed, and under the impression of authority,
have been especial impediments to our intellectual progress: and this
truth has been remarkably exemplified in the works that have treated of
the human mind. In the numerous treatises on this subject that have
issued from the press, there is but little agreement concerning