_The Term Conception preferable to either._--As regards the activity of _the mind itself_, in the process of mental reproduction, the term conception seems to me to express more nearly the exact state of the case than either association or suggestion. An idea is _suggested to_ the mind by some external object; the mind _conceives_ the idea thus suggested. The flute which I perceive lying on the table in the room of my friend suggests at once to my mind the idea of that friend. The action of the mind in this case is simply an act of conception. All that the flute does--all that we mean when we say the flute suggests the idea of the friend--is simply to place the mind in such a state that the conception follows. Whether we speak then of the laws of _association_, laws of _suggestion_, or laws of mental _conception_, is immaterial, provided we bear in mind the real nature of the process as now defined. _Question stated._--But what are the laws of association, or suggestion, so-called--in other words, of mental conception? Under what circumstances is a given conception awakened in the mind by some preceding conception or perception? This is an important subject of inquiry, and one which has not escaped the attention of philosophers. _Primary Laws._--It has been usual to enumerate as primary laws of suggestion, the following: _resemblance_, _contrast_, _contiguity in time or place_; to which has sometimes been added _cause and effect_. There can be little doubt that these are important laws of suggestion; that given object of thought is likely to suggest to the mind that which is like itself, that which is unlike, that which is connected with itself in time and place, that of which it is the cause or the effect. Whether these principles are exhaustive, and whether they may not be reduced to some one general principle comprehensive of them all, may admit of question.