"To account for this, and other phenomena of Memory, by intermediate causes, many authors, both antient and modern, were fain to suppose, that every thing perceived by us, whether a thought of the mind, or an external object, every thing, in a word, that we remember, makes upon the brain a certain impression, which, remaining for some time after, is taken notice of by the mind, and recognized as the mark of that particular sensation or idea."
Of Memory and Imagination [from Dissertations Moral and Critical]
At least 2 entries in ESTC (1783).<br>
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Beattie, James. <u>Dissertations Moral and Critical</u> (London: Printed for Strahan, Cadell, and Creech, 1783). Facsimile-Reprint: Friedrich Frommann Verlag, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, 1970. &lt;<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=xP5BAAAAYAAJ">Link to Google Books</a>&gt;