Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/130

 affection in the mind ot the writer. He desired a book. The desire acting in the intellect produced thought concerning the book, and collected the knowledge essential to write it. Then, when the knowledge was acquired, desire or the end used knowledge as a cause to produce the act. Desire is the end and the first, thought is the cause and middle, and the act is the effect and last, or ultimate. It will be observed that the end, which is first, becomes the last in the effect where it is realized. The affection or use in the book was first as an end, and the last in the effect. Discrete degrees that proceed from the same end and are of the same nature are homogeneous. Degrees that are not of the same nature or that do not come from the same end are heterogeneous. They can never form discrete degrees with the homogeneous. The inward delight from affection, the corresponding thought, and the smile upon the countenance constitute a series of three homogeneous discrete degrees. Inward hatred, the conjoined thought, and the hard expression are also a series of homogeneous discrete degrees, but as compared to the former they are heterogeneous, for they are not derived from the same end, and can not form a series with them.