51. No sooner do we hear the words of a familiar language pronounced in
our ears, but the ideas corresponding thereto present themselves to our
minds: in the very same instant the sound and the meaning enter the
understanding: so closely are they united that it is not in our power to
keep out the one, except we exclude the other also. We even act in all
respects as if we heard the very thoughts themselves. So likewise the
secondary objects, or those which are only suggested by sight, do often
more strongly affect us, and are more regarded than the proper objects of
that sense; along with which they enter into the mind, and with which
they have a far more strict connexion, than ideas have with words. Hence
it is we find it so difficult to discriminate between the immediate and
mediate objects of sight, and are so prone to attribute to the former
what belongs only to the latter. They are, as it were, most closely
twisted, blended, and incorporated together. And the prejudice is
confirmed and riveted in our thoughts by a long tract of time, by the use
of language, and want of reflexion. However, I believe anyone that shall
attentively consider what we have already said, and shall say, upon this
subject before we have done (especially if he pursue it in his own
thoughts) may be able to deliver himself from that prejudice.
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