LANGUAGE AND SCIENCE 189

the syllables have no rational meaning. Amongst such

must be included phrases sometimes repeated by idiots, or

the verbal exclamations made without real meaning by

rational persons during strong excitement as an Italian

may exclaim per Dio bacco ! or any Englishman may invoke

damage to his own eyes and limbs or those of his neigh-

bour ; and (3) gestures, which do not express or answer

to rational conceptions, but are merely manifestations of

feeling, as, e.g., jumping, dancing about, throwing up the

arms, tossing the hands, waving a hat, etc., etc.

Very different from all these is the spoken language,

composed of articulate sounds, as used in ordinary vocal

intercourse. In order to see this distinction clearly, it may

be well to analyze a very simple sentence, such, e.g., as " That

horse is running away."

The word " that," as thus used, has no signification in and

by itself, none without reference to the term "horse," which

it qualifies, dividing and separating off the particular horse

referred to from all others, and so limiting and determining

the application of the universal abstract term " horse " to a

single concrete example, for the word " that " conveys the

idea of an absolutely individual unity a unity which cannot

be present anywhere else except in the one concrete entity

referred to by it.

The word "horse," on the other hand, is a conventional

spoken, or written, sign of the idea " horse," and is a

universal* abstract term, applicable, over and above the

particular horse which is running away, to every other actual

or possible animal of the kind thus denominated. It denotes

no single subsisting thing, but a " kind " or whole class of

things a unity which can be present in many concrete

individuals many horses besides the particular one re-

ferred to in the sentence.

* See ante, p. 6.

The word " is " denotes the most wonderful, important,

and most abstract of all ideas the idea of " existence " or

"being." It is an idea which we must have in order to

perform any intellectual act. It is an idea which, though not

itself at first adverted to, makes all other ideas intelligible to

us, as light, though itself unseen, renders everything else

visible to us. But we shall return to the question of the

significance of the word " is," and justify fully what is here

said later on.

The term " running away " is one which denotes another

abstract idea namely, an abstract "quality" or "state" of

some object. The idea is one evidently applicable to many

things, such as all mice, dogs, lizards to anything, in

fact, which can " run away." Yet the idea itself is one

single idea.

What is true of the simple sentence thus analyzed is true

of all sentences. Thus the truth is plain of what we before

said about a savage, for all human language except the

emotional signs before distinguished necessarily implies and

gives expression to a number of abstract ideas. Therefore,

wherever language exists there the power of abstraction

must exist also. Therefore, again, thought is essentially

anterior to speech, and the latter is its consequence. It may

exist where the faculty of speech is wanting, and may be

expressed by gestures, which are also often made use of by

those who can speak, to convey a knowledge of their thoughts

and meaning to others. Similarly, inarticulate sounds may

also be made use of for the last-mentioned purpose.

In addition, then, to the three forms of merely emotional

language before enumerated, there are three forms of intel-

lectual language, as follows :

(i) Sounds which are rational but not articulate, such as

the inarticulate ejaculations by which we sometimes express

assent to, or dissent from, given propositions. Such inarticu-

the syllables have no rational meaning. Amongst such

must be included phrases sometimes repeated by idiots, or

the verbal exclamations made without real meaning by

rational persons during strong excitement as an Italian

may exclaim per Dio bacco ! or any Englishman may invoke

damage to his own eyes and limbs or those of his neigh-

bour ; and (3) gestures, which do not express or answer

to rational conceptions, but are merely manifestations of

feeling, as, e.g., jumping, dancing about, throwing up the

arms, tossing the hands, waving a hat, etc., etc.

Very different from all these is the spoken language,

composed of articulate sounds, as used in ordinary vocal

intercourse. In order to see this distinction clearly, it may

be well to analyze a very simple sentence, such, e.g., as " That

horse is running away."

The word " that," as thus used, has no signification in and

by itself, none without reference to the term "horse," which

it qualifies, dividing and separating off the particular horse

referred to from all others, and so limiting and determining

the application of the universal abstract term " horse " to a

single concrete example, for the word " that " conveys the

idea of an absolutely individual unity a unity which cannot

be present anywhere else except in the one concrete entity

referred to by it.

The word "horse," on the other hand, is a conventional

spoken, or written, sign of the idea " horse," and is a

universal* abstract term, applicable, over and above the

particular horse which is running away, to every other actual

or possible animal of the kind thus denominated. It denotes

no single subsisting thing, but a " kind " or whole class of

things a unity which can be present in many concrete

individuals many horses besides the particular one re-

ferred to in the sentence.

* See ante, p. 6.

The word " is " denotes the most wonderful, important,

and most abstract of all ideas the idea of " existence " or

"being." It is an idea which we must have in order to

perform any intellectual act. It is an idea which, though not

itself at first adverted to, makes all other ideas intelligible to

us, as light, though itself unseen, renders everything else

visible to us. But we shall return to the question of the

significance of the word " is," and justify fully what is here

said later on.

The term " running away " is one which denotes another

abstract idea namely, an abstract "quality" or "state" of

some object. The idea is one evidently applicable to many

things, such as all mice, dogs, lizards to anything, in

fact, which can " run away." Yet the idea itself is one

single idea.

What is true of the simple sentence thus analyzed is true

of all sentences. Thus the truth is plain of what we before

said about a savage, for all human language except the

emotional signs before distinguished necessarily implies and

gives expression to a number of abstract ideas. Therefore,

wherever language exists there the power of abstraction

must exist also. Therefore, again, thought is essentially

anterior to speech, and the latter is its consequence. It may

exist where the faculty of speech is wanting, and may be

expressed by gestures, which are also often made use of by

those who can speak, to convey a knowledge of their thoughts

and meaning to others. Similarly, inarticulate sounds may

also be made use of for the last-mentioned purpose.

In addition, then, to the three forms of merely emotional

language before enumerated, there are three forms of intel-

lectual language, as follows :

(i) Sounds which are rational but not articulate, such as

the inarticulate ejaculations by which we sometimes express

assent to, or dissent from, given propositions. Such inarticu-