10. Real succession in swift motions without sense of succession.
The reason I have for this odd conjecture is,
from observing that, in the impressions made upon any of our senses, we can but to a certain degree perceive any
succession; which, if exceeding quick, the sense of succession is lost, even in cases where it is evident that there is
a real succession. Let a cannon-bullet pass through a room, and in its way take with it any limb, or fleshy parts of
a man, it is as clear as any demonstration can be, that it must strike successively the two sides of the room: it is
also evident that it must touch one part of the flesh first, and another after, and so in succession: and yet, I believe,
nobody who ever felt the pain of such a shot, or heard the blow against the two distant walls, could perceive any
succession either in the pain or sound of so swift a stroke. Such a part of duration as this, wherein we perceive no
succession, is that which we call an instant, and is that which takes up the time of only one idea in our minds,
without the succession of another; wherein, therefore, we perceive no succession at all.
