CHAPTER II.

ON WORDS AND LANGUAGE.

(8) Memory.—(9) Communication of Ideas.—(10) Words—(11) Substantives.- (12) Substitution of Cyphers.- (13—16) Nature of Substantives.-(17-19) Adjectives.-(20) Pronouns. (21) Articles. — (22, 23) Combined use of Noun, Adjective, and Article.-(24—26) Verbs.—(27-29) Substantive Verbs. -(30) Adverb. (31) Prepositions. - (32) Conjunctions(33) Resumé.

(8.) In the preceding chapter I have stated that external objects act upon the organs of sensation; that that action is transmitted to the sensorium; and that it is probably registered in a certain combination of nervous elements, to appear again on subsequent occasions, constituting an act of memory.

(9.) For the purpose of communicating these ideas from one person to another, or of recording them for the purpose of bringing the event again before the mind, we have recourse to various signs, sounds, or symbols, which represent various images impressed on the brain.

(10.) But from the amazing number of images which may be impressed upon the brain, the use of words becomes a complex phenomenon, because it would be impossible to assign a different word to every single image formed in the organization.

(11.) The first class of words which we employ comprises those which are termed substantives, and which, if carefully studied, will be found to include or embrace a large range of objects under one term; thus, when we speak of a man, we speak of an object which may give rise to a vast amount of images in the organization, as it comprehends white, red, and black men, good and bad men, men in health and sickness, etc.

(12.) In my last chapter I shewed that all mental images were made up of actions on a certain aggregation or combination of nervous fibres, each of which might be designated by a certain number, letter, or word. Thus we may use certain letters of the alphabet to designate certain combinations of nervous fibres. The letters indicating the combinations may be further arranged in a geometric series, as in the subjoined diagram, and it will be immediately observed, that in the first line we have one letter, in the second two, in the third four, in the fourth eight, all having relation to each other,

(13.) In assigning the substantive word to any action, we select a combination which is common to, or forms part of a great number of images, thus if a b c d form a combination which is always present when a man is represented to our senses, we may give to that combination the term man, or in symbolic language A, which will be found to include these letters.

(14.) It will thus be seen that generally a substantive is a part of speech given to the action on a combination of nervous elements, which are affected in common by a large class of objects, and is, therefore, in itself a very general term. The words man, dog, ground, star, may serve as an example of the noun or substantive. Grammatically a noun may be defined to be a word used for some action, real or imaginary, which has occurred in the brain. It is immaterial whether the images to which we have given the names of nouns are produced by actions through the organs of sensation, or whether

they are mere thoughts, and have no external existence, as a word of the nature of a noun may be given to any action of the sensorium.

(15.) A mere noun can convey little or no knowledge when used by itself; for instance, the word man used apart from any other word, either implied or understood, would, by itself, communicate no real knowledge from one person to another, as it would neither express who the man was, where he was, what he was doing, or, in fact, any other circumstance concerning him, or even whether the image to which it referred was used to signify a thought or a reality.

(16.) For the purpose of more accurately defining the noun, we add some word common to another combination of actions, or virtually we add a word, having some of the properties of a second noun, to it; but the second word so added, we term the adjective. Thus if we speak of a good man, we have defined the character of the man, or limited our observation to a man who is characterized by some quality of goodness. If A represents a man, B comprises the combinations of the actions of the brain, which we term goodness; then if we speak of A with some portion of B conjoined, we have restricted or limited our observation to the combinations of A, to which some of B are added.

(17.) It will be perceived that there is nothing peculiar or definite in either A or B, which should entitle it per se to the name of a noun or adjective, for either might be the noun, and either might be the adjective, and yet the effect would be very different. In the one case we should have good man; in the other, manly goodness. In these cases, the combination to which we desire to call attention is the noun, and must be accurately defined, and the word by which the extent of the noun is limited, is called the adjective.

(18.) When we use a word adjectively and couple it to a noun, the adjective implies that only a portion of the actions of the brain which led to the idea from whence the word is derived, are coupled with the noun; hence, as the amount varies, we have various degrees of the word used adjectively, as good, better, best. The information conveyed by an adjective, is not of that positive character which is conveyed by a substantive; and when I say a good man, I should express it by symbols, by using A for man and

B-? for some

unspecified amount of goodness. If I said or wished to express manly goodness, I should use B for goodness and A-? for manly.

(19.) It follows from the above remarks, that the adjective is a far less perfect part of speech, and is unable to be used for the communication of those