360 ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES-ASSETS. judge of him as a man and a writer is his Annales Rerum Gestarum Aelfredi Magni. This simple and most interesting narrative was first published in 1574 by Archbishop Parker. Its trustworthiness has recently (1842) been questioned by Mr. Thomas Wright, in the article Asser' of his Biographia Britannica Lit teraria. This gentleman has assuredly made the most of the objections to its reliability that can be legitimately urged. Lingard and Dr. Pauli have replied to these, and, at present, the general no good reason for doubting its general accuracy and fidelity. The best edition is that of Wise (Oxf. 8vo. 1722). its having framed the constitution (which lasted only 12 months), this assemby is usually called the Constituent A. It made way for the LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY, which was to reform the civil and criminal laws in accordance with the spirit of the new constitution. A decree had provided that no member of the Constituent should be returned to the Legislative A. But the democratic party received such preponderance at the elections, that the A. forgot its mission from the very first, and commenced a war with the remnants of the royal authority, which ended, August 10, 1792, with the over-impression of scholars of Anglo-Saxon literature is that there is throw of the throne and the suspension of the king. The constitution had provided for an appeal to the nation in extreme cases, and the Legislative A. now exercised that right by convoking a ASSESSED TAXES are charged on the people by a somewhat National Convention (q. v.), which, being invested with the powers cumbrous system, papers being distributed to be filled up by the of the sovereign, was to decide on the fate of the monarchy, and taxpayer, or, when the tax is of a specific amount, intimating the remodel the whole political system. sum to be paid. The most notable instances are the income-tax, The title of National A. has been assumed by various other par-house-duty, and the local rates. This mode of collecting requires liamentary bodies, originating in popular commotions, and aiming a whole army of assessors and collectors for determining and colat radical political changes; as the French A. that met after the revolution of February 1848, followed, April 1849, by a Legisiative A.; the German National A. at Frankfort; and the Prussian National A. Under the existing French Republic, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies unite to form the National A. lecting the amounts due. Hence for many of the old assessed taxes, excise licenses have now been substituted, as in the case of the dog-tax, the taxes on armorial bearings, carriages, maleservants, and the game-license, and liquor and eating-house licenses. The simplification in the dog-tax is evident: the taxASSEMBLY OF DIVINES, or WE'STMINSTER ASSE M-payer simply takes out a license at the nearest post-office. The BLY, a celebrated convocation appointed by the Long Parliament A. T. are under the management of commissioners of Inland for settling the doctrine, liturgy, and government of the Church Revenue. See TAXES. of England. It consisted of 120 clergymen and 30 laymen-10 of ASSE'SSORS are persons sometimes associated with judicial whom were lords and 20 commoners-together with 4 clerical and functionaries, to assist in the argument and procedure before them, two lay commissioners from the Church of Scotland. Among the and to advise their judgments. They may be usefully employed by more distinguished of the divines were Usher, Saunderson, Rey- | persons in judicial stations whose previous education and pursuits nolds, Brownrigg, Ward, Twisse, Lightfoot, Gataker, Burges, scarcely qualify them for the duties cast upon them. A. are Goodwin, Calamy, and Nye; of the laymen, Selden, Prideaux, usually barristers or advocates learned in the law, and familiar the two Vanes, Rouse, Pym, Whitelocke, St. John, and Maynard. with judicial proceedings. By the Municipal Corporation Act, it The Scottish divines were Henderson, Gillespie, Rutherford, and is enacted that the burgesses shall annually elect from among those Baillie. 25 of those whose names were contained in the ordinance | qualified to be counsellors, two auditors and two A., the former to calling the Assembly, which was dated 12th June 1643, never ap-audit the accounts of the burgh, and the latter to revise the burgess peared at the discussions, one or two of them having died about list. In the ecclesiastical law of England, a bishop, who is a the time of the first meeting, and the others fearing the displeas- spiritual judge, is assisted by his chancellor, as the episcopal assesure of the king. To supply the place of these absentees, some sor, and who, in fact, holds court for the bishop. But in the case additional members, called the superadded divines, were sum-of a complaint against a clergyman for any ecclesiastical offence moned to attend. This notable Assembly held its first meeting on under the Church Discipline Act (the 3 and 4 Vict. c. 86), the bishop the 1st of July 1643, and continued to sit till the 22d February is directed to inquire into the matter, assisted by three A., of whom 1649, during which time it had met 1163 times. Its most important the dean of his cathedral, or one of his archdeacons, or his chanwork was concluded long before that time. One of the first things cellor, must be one, and a serjeant at law, or an advocate who has it did was to give its sanction to the Solemn League and Covenant, practised five years in the court of the archbishop of the province, against which Dr. Burges alone stood out for several days. The or a barrister of seven years' standing, another. Presbyterians formed a large majority in the Assembly, and exercised a corresponding influence on its decisions. In doctrine, the members were almost unanimous; but on the subject of church government, opinions extremely opposite were maintained with keenness, especially on the question touching the sphere and limits of the civil power in matters ecclesiastical. The principal which in itself bears evidence of a Norman origin. It is derived A'SSETS. This is one of those terms in the law of England fruits of its deliberations were the Directory of Public Worship, from the French word assez, or more exactly, in Norman-French, submitted to parliament April 20, 1644; the Confession of Faith, assetz, enough' or 'sufficient,' signifying the property of a deOctober and November 1646; the Shorter Catechism, November 5, ceased person, which is sufficient in the hands of his executor and 1647; and the Larger Catechism, September 15, 1648. These sev-heir for the payment of his debts and legacies. In strictness, eral formularies, which contain a clear and rigid embodiment of therefore, the term is not applicable to the property of a person Calvinistic theology and Presbyterian church government, constitute to this day the authorized standards of the Presbyterian who dies intestate, and without any debts to be paid. In general churches of Scotland, Ireland and England. The Directory of for distribution by a deceased person, whether testate or intestate; acceptation, however, it is understood to mean the property left Publu Worship was ratified by both Houses of parliament, October and in commerce, and also in bankruptcy and insolvency, the term 2, 1644, and the doctrinal part of the Confession of Faith in March is used to designate the stock in trade and entire property of all 1648. An order of the House of Commons, October 13, 1647, ordained that the Presbyterian form of church government should sorts belonging to a merchant or to a trading association. be tried for a year, but no further legislation followed. What has hitherto been known as to the details of the proceedings of this remarkable convocation, has been derived chiefly from the Letters of Baillie, and Lightfoot's Journal.-See Hetherington's History of the Westminster Assembly (1843); and the 2d volume of Masson's Life of Milton, published in 1871 (pp. 509-527), where a list of the members, with brief biographic notices, is given. See CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS. ASSE'NT, RO'YAL, is the regal act by which the sanction of the crown to bills which have passed through both Houses of parliament is given. See ROYAL ASSENT. The judges of the common law courts, and the Queen's counsel, being serjeants, are, as a condition of their offices, A. of the House of Lords, advising the House on points of law which may be propounded to them by their lordships. A. are either personal or real, the former comprehending such goods, chattels, and debts as devolve on the executor; and the latter including all real estate, whether devised or descending to the heir at law. In connection with this distinction, A. are also said to be A. by descent, and A. in hand, the former of these being recoverable from the heir to whom the land descends, and so far as such lands will extend-A. in hand, again, signifying such property as a person leaves to his executors sufficient for the clearing of burdens and bequests affecting his personal estate. A. are also in their nature either legal or equitable, according to the nature of the remedy which may be used by creditors against the executor or heir. Where there are several creditors of equal degree, the ASSER, JOHN, the learned and congenial biographer of Alfred, executor is bound to pay him who first obtains judgment for his was a monk of St. Davids, from the Latin name of which, debt; and he cannot resist on the ground that nothing will be left Menevia, he is termed in the old records Asserius Menevensis. for the other creditors. If, after exhausting the whole A. which About the year 850, his reputation for learning and piety pro-have come to his hands, by the payment of debts in due order, he cured him an invitation to the court of Alfred, where he resided be afterward sued by a creditor remaining unpaid, he is entitled at intervals during the rest of the king's life, assisting him in his to protect himself by an allegation that he has fully admi istered, studies, and enjoying an affectionate confidence, of which he seems to have been every way worthy. The king promoted him to various dignities, and finally made him Bishop of Sherburn. The Saxon Chronicle fixes the date of his death to the year 910. Several works have, with more or less authority, been attributed to A. The only one undoubtedly his, by which we can now or technically by a plea of plene administravit; and upon this plea the creditor is entitled to judgment that he shall be paid out of any other A. that shall come to the defendants, which is called a judgment of A. in futuro. A. is not a technical term in Scotland, but it is nevertheless much used in the legal business of that country. ASSI'DIANS. See CHASIDIM. ASSIENTO-ASSIGNMENT. ASSIE'NTO, i.e., treaty, a word specially applied to a compact between Spain and some foreign nation, according to which the Spanish government conferred upon the latter, under certain conditions, the monopoly of the supply of negroes for its American colonies. It was Charles I. of Spain who first concluded an A. with the Flemings. Next, a similar compact was entered into with the Genoese (1580 A.D.), the Portuguese (1696), and on the accession of Philip V. to the Spanish throne in 1702, with the French Guinea Company, which from that time took the name of A. Company, upon the understanding that for ten years it should have the exclusive right of annually importing 4800 negroes of both sexes to the continent and islands of Spanish America. The A. was next transferred to England at the peace of Utrecht in 1713, and made over by government to the South Sea Company for 30 years, permission being also granted to the company to send yearly, during the term of contract, a ship, carrying 500 tons of goods, to these Spanish colonies. The misunderstandings that grew out of this last clause contributed not a little to the war that broke out between the two nations in 1739. At the peace of Aix-la-chapelle in 1748, the English company having still four years to run, their rights were guaranteed to them; but they relinquished them at the Madrid Convention of 1750, upon the payment of £100,000, and the concession of certain commercial advantages. ASSIGN, To, in Law, signifies to transfer or grant over to a third party a security, a right of credit, or other right, whether in possession or in reversion, granted by a party indebted or under obligation to the party assigning. The words of assignment are to A., transfer, and set over, and they operate to transfer both real and personal property. A Chose in Action (q. v.), contrary to the ancient principle, can now be assigned in England indirectly by the common law, and directly according to the principles recognized in the practice of equity. Besides this general application of the word, as a technical term in conveyancing, both in England and Scotland, it is also employed in England in judicial procedure, where the decision of an inferior court is brought under review, and in proceedings in bankruptcy. See ASSIGNMENT, ASSIGNATION, ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR, BANKRUPTCY. ASSIGNATION is a legal term in Scotch conveyancing, analogous to the English word Assignment (q. v.), by means of which the holder of any right, or the creditor in any obligation, or the proprietor of any subject not properly feudal (see FEUDAL SYSTEM), transfers his right or estate to a third party. The party making the A. is called the cedent, and the party in whose favor the A. is made is called the assignee or cessionary, and the act of assignment thus made is irrevocable, an element in the deed which has been traced to the practice of the French law, a source from which the Scotch lawyers of the 16th c. borrowed so muchthe Court of Session itself being a mere copy of the Parliament of Paris. A direct conveyance of a debt in France was termed un transport; the granter, cédant; and the grantee, cessionnaire; and these terms, derived from a Latin origin, were introduced into the Scotch law; and hence the names of the parties to an A., as we have stated. Unlike the English common-law view of the assignment, the Scotch A. has the effect of investing the assignee with the whole right, which was in the cedent, although, according to the ancient practice, the A. gave, not simply the sum or subject assigned, but also the deed or written evidence of the right or thing assigned, a form arising from the circumstance of the instrument having been regarded as of the nature of a mandate or power of attorney to the assignee to make his claim and to act as in right of the cedent. In modern practice, however, it is usual to employ simply the terms assign, convey, and make over,' which correspond with the real character of the deed. In order, however, to complete the A., it must be intimated to the common debtor-that is, the party originally indebted to the cedent-and so essential is this intimation, that in the case of competing claims against the right interest or estate assigned, the A. first intimated will be preferred to one prior in date, but posterior in the date of intimation. Such intimation ought to be made by a Notary Public (q. v.), but other formal notice of the A. is sometimes admitted. But there are certain assignations which require no intimation, such as the endorsement of bills of exchange, adjudication (q. v.), which is a judicial A., and marriage, which is a legal A.; and the same is the rule with regard to all right and estate assigned under the operation of the bankruptcy laws. In Scotch agricultural leases, assignees are generally excluded expressly. But although A. is the strict Scotch term for assignment, the latter is in Scotland the technical term for the transference of certain property, such as property in copyrights, patents, and registered vessels. A'SSIGNATS. After appropriating to national purposes the land belonging to the church, the French National Assembly (see ASSEMBLY, NATIONAL), instead of bringing it into the market at a time of insecurity, when its value was depreciated, issued bonds on the security of it, which were called assignats, as repre 361 senting land assigned to the holder. This paper-money consisted chiefly of notes for 100 francs (£4) each, though many of them were for sums as low as ten or five francs, and even lower; and the first issue amounted to 400 million francs. The first A., which were issued in the spring of the year 1790, bore interest; but subsequent issues did not. The facility of this plan of providing government income led to its being repeatedly had recourse to, as the property of wealthy emigrants-persons who abandoned their country iu alarm-fell into the hands of the rulers, and was confiscated, till the amount rose to the enormous sum of 45,578 million francs, besides a great number of forged A. manufactured abroad, and smuggled into the kingdom. The value of the A. naturally soon began to decline, and confidence once gone, the declension became fearful. In June 1793, one franc in silver was worth three francs in paper; in August, it was worth six. The state took the most extreme measures to compel the acceptance of A. at their full nominal value. The effects of these were to cause the A. to flow back into the public treasury, to raise the prices of all commodities, and to make every one averse to have any dealings with the state. One of these consequences was attempted to be met by fixing a maximum of prices. But no one could compel producers and dealers to produce and sell at a loss; so that all business became disorganized. At last the value of A. came almost to nothing. Millions of individuals had suffered incalculable loss, and only a few who had bought public lands with the A. that cost them little or nothing, had enriched themselves at the expense of the community. În March 1796, a louis d'or (24 francs) brought 7200 francs in A. After this, they were withdrawn from the currency in 1796, and redeemed, at th of their nominal value, by mandats, a new kind of paper-money, which enabled the holder at once to take possession of public lands at the estimated value while A. could only be offered at a sale. their nominal value, and were returned to government in payment of taxes or of land. The mandats also soon fell to a seventieth of At length, in July 1796, the system of paper-credit, so obstinately persisted in by government and so disastrous in its results to the public, came to an end. A law was passed, declaring that every one was entitled to transact business in whatever circulating medium he pleased; that the mandats should be taken at their current value; and that the taxes be received either in coin or mandats at that rate. The A. were executed on a coarse kind of paper, and, as will be seen by the accompanying fac-simile, the devices were so meagre as to be easily counterfeited. ASSIGNEE' IN BA'NKRUPTCY. See BANKRUPTCY. ASSIGNMENT, in the law of England, is the name given to a conveyance by which the party making the A. transfers or grants over, for a sufficient consideration, a right in expectancy, in reversion, or other right not in possession, such as a bond, a debt, or other chose in action (q. v.). In England, according to the strict rule of the old common law, no such right could be assigned or granted over, because such a proceeding was thought to be an enCouragement to litigation. The only exception to this general rule was in the case of the crown, which might always either grant or receive a chose in action by A. Now, however, the proceeding is in constant practice. The courts of equity used to make the rule itself give way to the expediency of facilitating the transfer of property by directly sanctioning the practice; and even in those of common law the application of the ancient principle was evaded. Mortgages may be assigned; indeed the right to make such a trans grims, visiting the tomb of the saint, of whom one hundred thou fer is one of the properties of a mortgage security. A is also the proper mode of assurance or conveyance for passing leasehold estates for years, and other chattel property; and by the 8 and 9 Vict. c. 106, s 3, it is enacted that all assignments made after the 1st of October, 1845, not being an interest which before the passing of the act might have been created without writing, shall be void at law, unless made by deed. But a mere note in writing, if duly signed by the parties, will nevertheless be supported in equity as an agreement, and pass an equitable interest to the assignee. It also appears that a patrol or verbal lease for a term not exceeding three years, nor valid as such within the Statute of Frauds (q. v.), may be assigned by a simple note in writing, if impressed with a ASSI'ZE. This word, literally signifying a 'sitting' or 'session,' proper stamp. Copyright is assignable; indeed, by the 5 and 6 is a term used in the principal European legal systems, and very Vict. c. 45, s. 3, copyright is expressly given to the author and his much in the same sense, or rather senses in all, for it has more assigns; but it is not required, like a patent right, to be in every than one distinctive meaning. As is common with regard to most case under the seal of the proprietor, it being enacted by section 13 of our ancient legal technicality, the Latin language, in the first of the same act that an A. properly entered in the book of registry instance (assideo), and then the French (assis), appear to have led at Stationers' Hall shall be as effectual as if made by deed. to its introduction into the phraseology of the law of England, In regard to the right of A. generally, it may be laid down that and, it may be added, also of Scotland, although in the latter the property in things personal is transferable with absolute free- country it has a more limited application in judicial procedure dom; and if they are assigned under a condition which is either than in England, A. being in Scotland the old technical expression repugnant to the gift itself, or against the policy of the law-such for a jury. In England, this word may also signify a jury, and as a prohibition to dispose of the property assigned-the condition it is sometimes used to denote an ordinance, decree, or law. But is void. There are some cases, however, where the right of alien- in modern practice, it is commonly applied to the sessions or ation is, in respect to the incapacity of the owner, suspended; as sittings of the judges of the superior law-courts, held periodito which it will be sufficient to remark that the law with respect cally in each county, for the purpose of administering civil and to the disability of infants, insane persons, and persons under criminal justice. These courts came into use in room of anduress, applies in general to personal as well as to real property. cient justices in eyre, justicia rei in itinere. They are now apA married woman, too, is in general under an absolute incapacity pointed by commissions issued twice a year to the judges of the to make any transfer of things personal; for, with the exception High Court of Justice, two judges being generally assigned to of her equitable interest in property settled in trust expressly for each circuit. (These are the general commissions; special commisher separate use, the goods and chattels which she may have pos- sions are occasionally granted to certain judges to try certain sessed at the time of marriage, or subsequently acquired, belong, causes and crimes.) By accompanying writs of association, certain by the general rule of law, to her husband. There are also some persons are directed to be associated with the justices and serjeants, few cases where, in respect of the nature of the interest itself, its in order to take the assizes, &c., that a sufficient supply of comalienation is absolutely prohibited. Thus, generally, the pay or missioners may never be wanting. But, to prevent the delay of half-pay of a military or naval officer, or the salary of an officer justice by the absence of any of them, there is also issued, of of trust, is, on a principle of public policy, not assignable, the ob-course, a writ of Si non omnes, directing that, if all cannot be presject being to secure to such persons, even against their own im-ent, any two of them (a justice or serjeant being one) may proceed providence, the possession of those means which are essential to to execute the commission. the maintenance of their station and the performance of their duties. The sale or transfer of public appointments themselves is also, in general, contrary to the policy of the law, and in most cases expressly prohibited. See Stephen's Commentaries, vol. ii. p. 43. An A. of goods and chattels is frequently made by a Bill of Sale (q. v.). Bills of Exchange (q. v.) and Promissory Notes (q. v.) are assigned by endorsement. The corresponding term in the Scotch law is Assignation (q. v.). But in that system, A. is the legal and technical word for the transference of property in copyrights, patents, and registered vessels. See ASSIGNMENT in AM. SUPP. ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR. See ERROR and APPEAL. ASSIGNS, or in Scotch law, ASSIGNEES, is the legal name given to parties in whose favor an Assignment or Assignation (q. v.) is made. ASSIMILA'TION. See NUTRITION. ASSINIBOIA, a Canadian district or territory within the limits of the North-west Territories, but formed by an order in Council in 1882. It lies to the west of Manitoba, is bounded on the south by the United States frontier, west (at 111° W.) by Alberta territory. north (at 52° N.) by the new territory of Saskatchewan. It has an area of about 95,000 sq. miles; is intersected by the Canadian Pacific Railway, by the Q'appelle, South Saskatchewan, and Souris rivers; and contains the towns of Regina (new capital of the north west), Fort Pelly, and Fort Ellice. ASSINIBOI NE, a river of British North America, rising in lat. 51° 40′ N., and about long. 105° E. At Winnipeg it joins the Red River (q. v.), which discharges its waters into Lake Winnipeg. At a point 140 miles from its mouth, the A. is 230 feet broad; its course measures about 400 miles. The river gives name to a tribe of Indians. ASSI'SI (Assisium), a town of Central Italy, is built upon a steep hill, 13 miles S.E. of Perugia. Pop. 6200. It stands in a singularly picturesque situation, and is surrounded by a wall flanked with towers, and overhung by lofty citadel in ruins. It is the birthplace of St. Francis, who here founded the Convento Sacro, the first monastery of the Mendicant order that bears his name, a large and beautiful structure, and one of the earliest specimens of the Gothic style of architecture in Italy. The church and the galleries of the monastery contain fine paintings by Cimabue, Giotto, and other old masters. Besides the Convento Sacro, there are eleven other monasteries in A. Of these, the largest is the Portiuncula, which has a richly decorated church, with a cupola by Vignola. In the last century, this place was a great resort of pil These commissioners or judges of A. are sent twice in every year on circuits all round the kingdom, to try by a jury of the respective counties the truth of such matters of fact as are then under dispute in the courts of Westminster Hall; and occasionally a third circuit is appointed in the course of the year, for the purpose of jail delivery. The circuits (formerly eight) are, since 1875, seven in number-Northern, North-eastern, Midland, South-eastern, Oxford, Western, and North and South Wales; and in going them, the judges or commissioners sit by virtue of four several authorities: 1. The commission of the peace; 2. A commission of oyer and terminer; 3. A commission of general jail delivery. The other authority is, 4. That of nisi prius, which is a consequence of the ancient commission of A. being annexed to the office of justices and it empowers them to try all questions of fact issuing out of of A. by the statute of Westminster the second (13 Edw. 1. c. 30); the courts at Westminster that are then ripe for trial by jury. These, by the ancient course of the courts, were usually appointed to be tried at Westminster in some Easter or Michaelmas term, by a jury returned from the county wherein the cause of action arose; but with this proviso, nisi prius, unless before the day prefixed the judges of A. should come into the county in question, which in modern times they have invariably done in the vacations preceding; so that the trial has always, in fact, taken place before those judges. And now, by the effect of the statue 15 and 16 Vict. c. 76 (the Common Law Procedure Act, 1852), the course of proceeding is no longer even ostensibly connected with a proviso at nisi prius, but the trial is allowed to take place without the use of any such words in the process of the court, and as a matter of course, before the judges sent under commission into the several counties. The circuit system, however, does not extend to London and Middlesex, which have instead courts of nisi prius, which the trial of civil causes, at what are called the London and Westare held before the chief or other judge of the superior courts for minster Sittings; and the establishment of the Central Crimina! Court (by the 4 and 5 Will. IV. c. 36, the jurisdiction of which was extended by the 19 and 20 Vict. c. 16) has sufficiently provided for the administration of criminal justice within these dis) tricts. The Judicature Act (1873, ss. 11, 16, 29, 37, 77, 93 and 99made no important alteration in the manner of holding assize. The circuit courts of Justiciary in Scotland, of which there are three-the North, the West, and the South-very much resemble the assizes in England, and have, in criminal matters at least, very much the same jurisdiction; but in civil causes their authority is very limited. In the sense of an ordinance or law, the term A. has various applications, although chiefly in the more ancient systems of jurisprudence. Thus, the Assizes' of Jerusalem were, as we are told ASSOCIATE SYNOD-ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. in Gibbon's Decline and Fall (vol. xi. p. 93), a code of feudal laws for the kingdom of Jerusalem, formed in 1099 by an assembly of the Latin Barons and of the clergy and laity under Godfrey of Bouillon. Then there were the 'Assizes' or ordinances regulating the price of bread, ale, fuel, and other common necessaries of life, but all of which have been abolished. The same regulations appear to have prevailed in Scotland in ancient times. See JURY TRIAL, FAIRS. 363 tine; similarity has to do with invention and originality, and is essential to the processes of Reason and Imagination. Law of Contiguity.-The principle of association by proximity is not confined to ideas. We must state it in a more comprehensive form, in order to comprise the full sphere of its application; for our mechanical habits are formed through the very same power of our constitution that enables us to recall or remember ideas. The taught movements of a soldier or of a skilled workman are conASSOCIATE SYNOD, ASSOCIATE PRESBYTERY, &c., des- nected together so firmly that one succeeds to another almost of its ignations adopted among the dissenters from the Church of Scot-own accord. Everything of the nature of acquisition supposes a land. See UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. America has also plastic property in the human system, giving permanent coherence to acts that have been performed together. an Associate Synod and an Associate Reformed Church, both The following is a general statement of the law under considersprung from the Scottish Secession. ation: Actions, Sensations, States of Feeling and Ideas, occurring together, or in close succession, tend to grow together, or cohere in such a way that when any one of them is afterwards presented to the mind, the others are apt to arise. ASSOCIATION. LEAGUE, COMPANY. See Co-OPERATION; also, SOCIETIES, ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. This is a phrase of great importance in the Philosophy of the Human Mind, as expressing the most pervading fact at the foundation of our intelligence. By giving, therefore, a somewhat full exposition of this subject, we are able to explain, at once, a considerable number of the complex phenomena of mind in a more satisfactory way than by treating the several phenomena separately. What is meant by Association of Ideas, is familiarly illustrated by such occurrences as the following: When we see the sky becoming overcast, we think of rain as about to follow, the notion of rain not having previously been present to our mind. When we hear the churchbells, we are apt to think of the crowds in the street, or of some of the other circumstances of public worship. When we pass a house, we are reminded of its occupier; and meeting a person we know, we may be carried in thought to his office, and from that to other persons holding the same office, and so on. If an object is before my eyes, as a mountain, I am said to receive an impression or sensation of it, in consequence of the actual presence of the thing; but it is possible for me to remember the mountain, or to have an idea of it, when far away from the reality, in which case there must be some power in the mind itself, different from the susceptibility to present objects, a power of retaining, reviving, or resuscitating those states at first induced by contact with the actual. Besides the sights, and sounds, and touches caused by contact with real things, we are greatly occupied with sights, sounds, and touches remembered, anticipated, or imagined, which is to live in a world of ideas; and it is in this world that the process termed Association has its sphere. When an idea is brought before the mind without its original, as when I picture to my mind the late Duke of Wellington, the circumstance is owing to the mention of his name, or of some incident connected with him; and my remembrance of his personal appearance, as I have seen him when alive, is said to be the result of an association existing in my mind between two ideas, so that one is able to recall or restore the other. The association between names and things comprehends one of the most extensive applications of the power in question. And first, as to association of Actions, or voluntary movements. When we perform a train of movements without any further aid of the will than to commence the series, there must be a fixed connection between each and the one that follows, and the connection may be either instinctive or acquired. There are various cases of instinctive trains, such as the action of the heart, lungs, and intestines, and the movements of deglutition. When a morsel of food reaches the back part of the mouth, the muscles of the throat seize hold of it, and transmit it to the stomach, independent of our will. The connected movements in this case are provided for in the original structure of the nervous and muscular system. In walking, there is partly an instinctive tendency to alternate the limbs, and partly a confirming acqusition, the result of practice. But in those complicated operations that human beings are taught to execute in the various avocations of life, the associating principle is everything. The apparently simple and easy act of taking food is a complicated acquisition; in other words, an extensive group of associated movements. The seizing of the morsel is followed by the movement of the arm that carries it to the mouth; the mouth is opened simultaneously; after which follows the processes of biting and chewing; all which take place with the certainty of a machine, and without effort or attention directed to them. These associations were originally built up by slow degrees. 'As a general rule, it takes many repetitions to cement so firm a union between successive and simultaneous movements as is implied in the above instance.' A good example of the association of movements is furnished in our acquirement of spoken language, as in committing to memory words, sayings, and passages of books. When a child has perfectly acquired the Lord's Prayer, the chain of association is so firmly knit, that the articulation of the words 'Our Father' is followed irresistibly with those next succeeding, and so on to the end. The cohesion in this case is between the vocal movements corresponding to the enunciation of the words. Having gone many times through this one definite succession, the stream of nervous power, in some way that we cannot at present explain, acquires a tendency to fall into this one definite track, and in futso frequently followed. It is not merely actual movements that can be joined together in this way, but the ideas of movement; for a man, meditating in language, and not speaking out his thoughts, can consolidate his trains so as to remember them afterwards. When we proceed to Sensations and the Ideas, or subsequent traces, of Sensations, and take along with these the variety of our movements with their ideas, we find an unlimited scope for the associating principle; and the consequences of its operation spread far and wide in the domains of our happiness, our knowledge, and our active capacity. It is only possible here to present a few illustrative examples. The circumstances under which one idea brings forward another into the view are principally these two-viz., first, previous prox-ure to bring on the movements in the exact order that they have imity; and second, likeness. The term Contiguity' and 'Similarity are used in Mental Philosophy to express them. The first is exemplified in the examples of association given above; for in most of those it will be found that the conjoined notions have been frequently in the view at the same time, in consequence of which they have, as it were, grown together, or become part of the same whole. Thus, we have often noticed the darkened sky followed by a shower; the two facts have occupied the attention simultaneously, and in virtue of some power belonging to our mental framework, they have cohered into an inseparable couple or aggregate in the mind. This is proximity, or contiguity. When one idea suggests another which was never in company with it before, it is generally through the force of some likeness between the two. In the various mechanical acquirements, which include the I meet an old man in the street with a very peculiar face, which whole of special handicraft industry and skill, as well as the use reminds me of the bust of Socrates. These two things had never of the bodily members in the more general actions of daily life, accompanied one another in my mind before, and therefore it could there may be traced the linkings of actions with actions, or actions not be the force of proximity that made the second to arise at the with sensations and ideas. The helmsman steering a ship assoinstigation of the first; but there was a certain amount of likeness ciates in his mind each deviation of the needle from the proper or similarity between the old man's features and the features of point with the specific muscular exertion to be applied to the Socrates, as represented to us in the bust; and it is a fact of our wheel to rectify the ship's direction. The workman fabricating constitution, no less certain and no less important than the forego- in wood, metal, or stone, acquires a firm connection between each ing, that in cases where something now before the mind has a aspect of the material and the muscular power to be applied to strong cast of resemblance to something formerly observed or con- bring it one step nearer the desired form. The power of copying ceived by us, but not at present thought of in any way, the present anything we see, as in writing, drawing, moulding, &c., when is apt to recall that past idea, whatever it may be. By the force of completely mastered, is made up of associations between a visible likeness, the traveler in new countries is constantly reminded of appearance, and the train of movements calculated to reproduce it. the scenes and objects familiar to him, and so is induced to draw After practice, all this is done, as it is called, mechanically, or comparisons between the one and the other. Identification and without those operations of considering, willing, and remembring comparison both imply that things are brought together by virtue directions, that are essential to the learner in a new art. The of their similarity, they not having been in company before. The associations that grow up after a certain amount of practice, are principle of proximity operates most in Memory, Habit, and Rou-in this case associations between movements and appearances to 364 ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. But this reinstatement the eye, or sensations of sight. In the greater number of crafts, am disciplining myself in the act of drawing a round figure with the eye is the guiding sense to the operator, but not in all. Some- my hand, any present effort must recall the state of the muscular times the effect is vocal, as in performing music, and in making and nervous action, or the precise bent acquired at the end of the and tuning musical instruments, in speaking, &c. In other arts, previous effort, while that effort had to restore the condition at the touch is the guiding sense, and in some, as in cookery, the the end of the one preceding, and so on. taste and smell direct the operator. Each accomplished workman of a former condition by a present act of the same kind, is really has in his mind many hundreds, not to say thousands, of couples and truly a case of the principle before us, or of like recalling like; similarity is tacitly assumed in the operation of contiguity, and is or aggregates of definite movements with other movements and and without such recall, the progressive adhesion of contiguous with sensations, contracted in the course of his apprenticeship to things would be impossible. It would appear, therefore, that his calling. If we inquire into the circumstances that favor and promote this indispensable to the process by which our acquisitions are graduextensive circle of acquisitions, we shall find several that may be ally built up. Why, then, do we set up the associating force of named as of importance. In the first place, a natural activity of likeness as something independent and distinct? To answer this temperament, or an abundant flow of power to the active members, question, we must advert to the fact, that in those cases where the as shown in a great and various nobility of the frame, is a good same impression is deepened by every new repetition, the old and But in going deeper into the explanation of the human intellect, basis of bodily acquirements. When the force of the system runs the new are not merely similar, they are identical, and the resusfeebly towards the muscular framework, being perhaps expended citation takes place without fail, and as a matter of course. in other ways, as in the thinking powers, more time is requisite to Another important circumstance we encounter many classes of similars, where there is not absolute attain difficult mechanical arts. is the acuteness or delicacy of the sense involved in the operation. A identity, but the mixing of a certain amount of diversity with keen eye, sensitive to minute degrees of effect, is wanted in all the the likeness actually existing. The botanist classing together all various occupations that turn on visible appearances; a good ear is the plants of the same order, as, for example, the Rosacea, has indispensable to music and the arts of producing sounds; and so on. to be struck with the occurrence of certain common characters— With a naturally dull sensibility to flavor, no man can easily be- viz., the properties that distinguish the order-in the midst of come a good cook, or a taster of tea or wine. The third considera- great varieties in all other respects. It is important that he recogIt is exceedingly important in science, in the busition is the natural power of adhesive association belonging to the in-nize these general marks, whether the plants be trees or shrubs, Some minds have originally a more powerful whether they be poisonous or wholesome, and under many other dividual character. In adhesiveness than others, either for things generally or for special diversities. departments. We see this when a number of boys come together ness of life, and even in the creations of fine art, that the at school, and in apprentices learning together. Some are always mind should take cognizance of likeness surrounded by unlikefound taking the start of the rest in rapidity of acquirement; and ness; which is the case that renders it necessary to characalthough the reason may be found in some of the other circum-terize as distinct the associating force now under discussion. stances now mentioned, yet observation shows that when every- the case of perfect identity between a present and a past imthing else is allowed for, there remain natural differences in the pression, the past is recovered, and fused with the present, inrapidity with which the adhesive bond is cemented; some acquiring stantaneously and surely. So quick and certain is the process But when we pass from perfect to imperfect or parwithout effort what others take both time and labor to accomplish. that we lose sight of it altogether; we are scarcely made aware of The fourth principal circumstance is the interest taken in the work, the existence of an associating link of similarity under such ciror the degree to which it engages the feelings of the learner. This cumstances. is a material consideration, accounting for the acquisitions made tial identity, we are more readily led to perceive the existence of in matters that we have a strong taste for without our having a this link of attraction between similars, for we find that the pre-eminence in those other points that constitute natural capacity. restoration sometimes does not take place; cases occur where we These four conditions apply more or less to acquisitions generally. fail to be struck with a similitude; the spark of resuscitation does A detailed exemplification of this great principle of our nature not pass between the new impression and the old dormant one. might be given through all the departments of the human intellect. Then it is that that we recognize differences between the different The acquirements of speech, as already said, contain a wide range minds; one man tracing resemblance and making out identity betof instances. The adhesion of language is partly in the vocal or-ter than another. Moreover, we can assign reasons connected with gans, partly in the ear, and partly in the eye, when we come to the culture of the individual, which partially explain superiority written and printed characters. The associations of names with or inferiorty in this important faculty; just as we have pointed out things, with actions (as in obeying direction and command), and the conditions favorable to the rapid growth of the adhesive bond When in some new presentation of an object, the with other names (in acquiring foreign languages), are a gradual of proximity. The failure in reinstating an old impression by virgrowth favored by such conditions as the above. The acquire- tue of a present one like it, is solely ascribable to the want of perinents in Science, Fine Art, and Business, and in everything that fect identity. constitutes skill or knowledge, proceed upon this plastic property old familiar form is muffled, obscured, distorted, disguised, or in of the mind. It also enlarges the sphere of our pleasures and any way altered, it is just a chance if we recognize it; the amount pains. There are connections established in the mind between of likeness still remaining will have a tendency to revive the obour states of feeling and the things that have often accompanied ject, while the points of difference or unlikeness will operate them, so that the accompaniment shall have power to revive the against the revival, and tend to restore things of their own kinair is played with complex harmonies and accompaniments which feeling. It is thus that we contract affections, both benevolent dred. If we hear a musical air that we are accustomed to, the and malevolent, towards persons and things, our friends, our new impression revives the old as a matter of course; but if the home, our country, our property, our pursuits. This power of stirring up dependent associations to an extent are strange to us, it is possible that the effect of these additions that may be almost called unlimited (although there are limita- may be to check our recognition of the melody; the unlike cirtions), is peculiar to the animal organization. Nothing parallel cumstances may repel the reinstatement of the old experience more to it occurs in the mineral or vegetable world. It is a property of strongly than the remaining likeness attracts it. If our hold of the mind alone, and has its seat in the nervous tissue. We know that essential character of melody is but feeble, and if we are stunned growth or change is requisite to the progress of the adhesion; and confounded by the new accompaniments, there is every probafor it proceeds most rapidly in youth, health and nutrition, and bility that we shall not be put upon the old mental track made by decays in old age, and during exhaustion and disease. And even the same air; in other words, we shall not identify the perto keep our acquisitions from fading away, it is requisite that they formance. should be occasionally revived. A language acquired in early years may be utterly lost by disuse. Sustained practice seems particularly necessary in early education; children's acquisitions are very liable to disintegrate, if not kept up and confirmed by new additions. A few examples may next be given, to show the workings of Law of Similarity.-This may be expressed as follows: I |