From the Notebooks of S. T. Coleridge
388 31/2.14 I. Brown has not proved that the Incitabilityitself can not be altered - not merely thro' incitement - butunmittelbar - Says the Jena recensent, Feb. 1799, NO. 48. -ThisI do not understand - how can Incitability, as Incitability, beacted on except by incitement? - Perhaps, the medicine is conceivedto act on the cause of the Incitability, & so to rendersthat cause, whatever it be, more or less capable? - Obscure.
2. It is a better objection that Brown himself admits Custom,& perhaps, a power of the mind, checking stimulus .- &this seems wholly irreconcileable with his System.
3. Selbst wo offenbar grosse krankmachende Einwirkungenallgemein statt finden, erkankt nur immer ein verhltnismssig kleinerTheil Menschen. Nach Brown musste [m¸sste] sich nun aberdas Gegentheil dieser Wahrnehmung in der Erfahrung bewahren [bewhren].-No. 49. Ditto.
In other words Brown's System does not account for thatpower which we possess of remaining so much the same in such differentspheres & agencies of Inciting Powers.
4. Strange Assertions, that we receive a given quantityof Incitability at our birth - yet that this is given out onlyin small quantities - and these small quantities can not be usedsuddenly without death - as in the case of those who die of frightor joy - however large the reservoir may be. As a Merchant whois has a sudden run on him, stops, altho' his capital may exceedthe Sum threefold - yet if all his ready Cash is exhausted, hemust stop.