In like manner, when an object in past experience has uniformly united ideas which awakened emotions of contempt, if some particular is pointed out in association with these which is grand or sublime, this incongruity occasions an emotion of the ludicrous. This is the foundation of the amusement produced by bombastic writings, where objects that are grand and sublime have low and mean conceptions connected with them, or where qualities that are insignificant or mean are connected with those which are grand and sublime. The following example of the union of such incongruous ideas will illustrate: "And now had Phoebus in the lap Of Thetis taken out his nap, And, like a lobster boiled, the morn From black to red began to turn." The sublime ideas connected with the sun, and the classical associations united with the name of Thetis, would not naturally have recalled the idea of so insignificant an animal, nor the changes produced in cooking it, and these connections violate the ordinary laws of association. Emotions of the ludicrous are also produced by the sudden conception of some association in ideas which has never before been discovered. Thus, if ideas have been united in the mind on some other principle of association than that of resemblance, the sudden discovery of some unexpected resemblance will produce mirth. This is the foundation of the merriment produced by _puns_, where the _ideas_ which the words represent would never have been united by the principles of association, but the union of these ideas is effected on the principle of resemblance between the _sounds_ of the words which recall these ideas. When the mind suddenly perceives this unexpected foundation for the union of ideas that in all other respects are incongruous, an emotion of the ludicrous is produced. This is also the foundation of the pleasure which is felt in the use of alliteration in poetry, where a resemblance is discovered in the initial sound of words that recall ideas which in all other respects are incongruous. All minds enjoy the excitement of this class of emotions, but some much more than others. _Laughter_, which is the effect of this class of emotions, is enjoyed more or less by all mankind, and is regarded as not only an agreeable, but as a healthful exercise. CHAPTER XVII. THE MORAL SUSCEPTIBILITIES. A brief reference has been made to those susceptibilities which are the subject of this chapter. These, from their importance, are entitled to a more enlarged consideration. Before proceeding, however, it is desirable to refer to the uses of the term _moral_, inasmuch as it often is employed with a vague comprehension of its signification. In its widest sense it signifies _whatever relates to the regulation of mind by motives_ in distinction from those influences that produce involuntary results. In a more limited sense, it signifies _whatever relates to the regulation of mind in reference to the rules of right and wrong_.