ABSTRACT
In respect of its space-attributes—Bulk, Figure, and Position—body is altogether passive: and the perception of them is wholly due to certain mental operations, certain acts of thought. The statical attributes are those which pertain to body as standing or existing. Figure is resolvable into relative magnitudes; that Magnitude is resolvable into relative positions ; and that all relative positions may finally be reduced to positions of subject and object—will be fully confirmed on considering the process by which the space-attributes of body become known to a blind man. He puts out his hand, and touching something, thereby becomes cognizant of its position with respect to himself. He puts out his other hand on one side of, gains some negative knowledge of the thing’s magnitude—a knowledge which three or four touches on different sides of it serve to render positive. And then, by continuing to move his hands over its surface, he acquires a notion of its figure.
