soften down the effect, the former apartment appears to the
child as if it had ceased to exist. He can scarcely believe it to be the
same. He never thinks of the _uses_ of the articles in the apartment,
but only of their _appearance_;--the first being an act of the
judgment,--the latter of the imagination. In a similar manner he thinks
of the kitchen and its furniture, not as a part of the household
economy, but only in connection with the articles it contains. The
dresser, the jack, and the tin covers, are never thought of in
connection with their uses; but are identified with the kitchen, merely
because they have always been seen there, and seen together. In like
manner, the seats, the tables, and the ornaments of the drawing-room,
are not connected in the child's mind because they are what are commonly
called "drawing-room furniture," for that would imply a degree of
reasoning of which he is as yet unacquainted; but they are remembered
together, as they have always been observed in that particular place,
and are now pictured on the mind, in the position in which they are
usually beheld. Their particular locality in the room, and their
relative position with respect to each other, are of far more importance
in assisting the memory of the child, than any knowledge which he has as
yet acquired of their respective uses.

Though a child had in this way gained an exact knowledge of every
apartment in a house, it is obvious that there may not have been, during
the whole process, a single act of the understanding. Many of the lower
animals are capable of collecting all the knowledge he has received; and
even infants are, to a certain extent, in the daily habit of acquiring
it. But the classification of objects, according to their nature and
uses, is an operation of a perfectly different kind. Hence it is, that a
change in the arrangement of the furniture of a room acts so slightly on
the feelings of the adult, and so powerfully on the young. In the
former, the reasoning powers neutralize the effect produced; to the
latter, the change appears a complete revolution.

This principle of classification, though peculiar to the mature mind, is
not restricted to any particular class of men. It is found to be
universal, wherever the reasoning powers are capable of acting. It is no
doubt conspicuous in civilized societies, because there it is more
cultivated; but it is not confined to them. The savage is prompted to
its exercise und