the act of associating, or constituting a society, or partnership, in order to carry on some scheme or affair with more advantage.—The word is Latin, *associatio*; and compounded of *ad*, to, and *socius*, to join.

*Association of Ideas*, is where two or more ideas constantly and immediately follow or succeed one another in the mind, so that one shall almost infallibly produce the other, whether there be any natural relation between them or not. See Metaphysics.

Where there is a real affinity or connexion in ideas, it is the excellency of the mind, to be able to collect, compare, and range them in order, in its inquiries: but where there is none, nor any cause to be assigned for their accompanying each other, but what is owing to mere accident or habit, this unnatural association becomes a great imperfection, and is, generally speaking, a main cause of error, or wrong deductions in reasoning. Thus the idea of goblins and sprights, it has been observed, has really no more affinity with darkness than with light; and yet let a foolish maid inculcate these ideas often on the mind of a child, and raise them there together, it is possible he shall never be able to separate them again so long as he lives, but darkness shall ever bring with it those frightful ideas. With regard to this instance, however, it must at the same time be observed, that the connection alluded to appears far from being either unnatural or absurd. See the article Association.

Such wrong combinations of ideas, Mr Locke shows, are a great cause of the irreconcilable opposition between the different sects of philosophy and religion: for we cannot imagine, that all who hold tenets different from, and sometimes even contradictory to, one another, should wilfully and knowingly impose upon themselves, and refuse truth offered by plain reason: but some loose and independent ideas are, by education, custom, and the constant din of their party, so coupled in their minds, that they always appear there together: these they can no more separate in their thoughts, than if they were but one idea, and they operate as if they were so. This gives sense to jargon, demonstration to absurdities, consistency to nonsense, and is the foundation of the greatest, and almost of all the errors in the world.

Association forms a principal part of Dr Hartley's mechanical theory of the mind. He distinguishes it into synchronous and successive; and ascribes our simple and complex ideas to the influence of this principle, or habit. Particular sensations result from previous vibrations conveyed through the nerves to the medullary substance of the brain; and these are so intimately associated together, that any one of them, when impressed alone, shall be able to excite in the mind the ideas of all the rest. Thus we derive the ideas of natural bodies from the association of the several sensible qualities with the names that express them, and with each other. The sight of part of a large building suggests the idea of the rest instantaneously, by a synchronous association of the parts; and the sound of the words, which begin a familiar sentence, brings to remembrance the remaining parts, in order, by successive association. Dr Hartley maintains, that simple ideas run into complex ones by association; and apprehends, that by pursuing and perfecting this doctrine, we may some time or other be enabled to analyze those complex ideas, that are commonly called the *ideas of reflection*, or *intellectual ideas*, into their several component parts, i.e. into the simple ideas of sensation of which they consist; and that this doctrine may be of considerable use in the art of logic, and in explaining the various phenomena of the human mind.

*Association of Parliament*. In the reign of King William III., the parliament entered into a solemn association to defend his Majesty's person and government against all plots and conspiracies; and all persons bearing offices civil or military, were enjoined to subscribe the association to stand by King William, on pain of forfeitures and penalties, &c. by stat. 7 and 8 W. III. c. 27.

*Association, African*. This is an institution which was formed in the year 1788, for the purpose of promoting discoveries in the interior parts of Africa. Out of the number of the members, of which this society consists, five are elected for the management of its funds and correspondence, and for the appointment of persons to whom the missions are assigned. Mr Ledyard was the first who was sent out, for accomplishing the object of the society. He undertook the adventurous task, of traversing from east to west, the widest part of the African continent, in the latitude which was ascribed to the Niger; and with this view he arrived at Cairo in August 1788. But before his projected journey commenced, he died, and the hopes that were entertained of this enterprising and persevering traveller were disappointed. Mr Lucas was next chosen by the committee, ASS

Association committee. In October 1788, he embarked for Tripoli; and he was instructed to proceed over the desert of Zara to Fezzan, to collect all the information that could be obtained, respecting the interior of the African continent, and to transmit it by way of Tripoli. He was then to return by way of Gambia, or the coast of Guinea. But his peregrinations terminated at Mesurata. The difficulties and dangers which presented themselves deterred him from proceeding farther. He transmitted to the society only the result of his conferences with the traders to Fezzan, with whom he was travelling; and soon after returned to England.

The society still persevered in its object, and in the year 1790, appointed Major Houghton, with instructions to sail for the mouth of the Gambia, and to traverse the country from west to east. He arrived on the coast in November the same year, immediately commenced his journey, ascended the river Gambia to Medina, 900 miles distant from his mouth, and thence proceeded to Bambook, and to the adjoining kingdom of Kasson, where, in September the year following, he unfortunately terminated his travels with his life, near the town of Jarn.

Mr Park was engaged by the society in the same service in 1795, and pursuing the route of Major Houghton, more successfully explored the banks of the Niger, to Segu and to Silla, the first of that great line of populous cities which divide the southern from the northern deserts of Africa. The information which Mr Park collected, during his adventurous journey, was communicated to the society in 1798. In a second journey, commenced in 1805, this enterprising traveller perished, after having reached the Niger; but the circumstances of his death have not been ascertained with perfect certainty.

Mr Horneman, who had offered himself to the committee in 1796, departed from London in July 1797, and proceeding by Cairo, commenced his journey westward with the caravan, in September 1798. In November following, he arrived at Mourzouk in Fezzan, from which his last despatches to the society were transmitted by way of Tripoli, but no accounts of his death ever reached the society.

John L. Burckhardt, the son of a citizen of Basle in Switzerland, was engaged by the society in 1808. After some preparatory steps, he set out in March 1829. He remained two years and a half at Aleppo; thence he went to Egypt. Unfortunately no caravan set out for the interior of Africa for a series of years. He was thus disappointed in his leading object; but he made two journeys up the Nile, and visited Mecca, Medina, and Mount Sinai. Diseases brought on by fatigue and the climate, at length put a period to his life in September 1817. See Africa, Supplement.

ASSOILZIE, in Law, to absolve or free.

ASSONANCE, in Rhetoric and Poetry, a term used where the words of a phrase or a verse have the same sound, or termination, and yet make no proper rhyme. These are usually accounted vicious in English; though the Romans sometimes used them with elegance; as, Milliem comparavit, exercitum ordinavit, aciem lustravit.

ASSONANT rhymes, is a term particularly applied to a kind of verse common among the Spaniards, where a resemblance of sound serves instead of a natural rhyme. Thus ligera, cubierta, tierra, mesa, may answer each other in a kind of assonant rhyme, having each an e in the penult syllable, and an a in the Assumpsit last.