"When a vegetable draws in moisture from the earth, nature, by the same action by which it draws it in, and at the same time, converts it to the nourishment of the plant: it at once circulates through its vessels, and is assimilated to its several parts. In like manner, genius arranges its ideas by the same operation, and almost at the same time, that it collects them. The same force of association which makes us perceive the connexion of all ideas with the subject, leads us soon to perceive also the various degrees of that connexion."
An Essay on Genius
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1774).<br>
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<u>An Essay on Genius. By Alexander Gerard, D.D. Professor of Divinity in King's College, Aberdeen.</u> (London: Printed for W. Strahan; T. Cadell, and W. Creech at Edinburgh 1774). &lt;<a href="http://find.galegroup.com/ecco/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=ECCO&userGroupName=viva_uva&tabID=T001&docId=CW3315407235&type=multipage&contentSet=ECCOArticles&version=1.0&docLevel=FASCIMILE">Link to ECCO</a>&gt;