TO R. B. LITCHFIELD, Esq.
Trin. Coll., 25th March 1854.
I am
experiencing the effects of Mill, but I take him
slowly. I do not
think him the last of his kind. I think more is
wanted
to bring the connexion of sensation with Science to light, and show
what
it is not. I have been reading Berkeley on the Theory of
Vision,
and greatly admire it, as I do all his other non-mathematical works;
[208]
but I was disappointed to find that he had at last fallen
into
the snare of his own paradoxes, and thought that his discoveries
with regard to the senses and their objects would show some fallacy in
those branches of high
mathematics which he disliked. It is curious to see how speculators
are led by their neglect of exact sciences to put themselves in
opposition
to them where they have not the slightest point of contact with their
systems.
In the Minute Philosopher there is some very bad Political
Economy and much very good thinking on more interesting subjects.
Paradox is still sought for and exaggerated. We live in an age of
wonder
still.