54 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ Arts, and Letters. 



XIV. THE HISTOEY OF INTLECTION'S. 



It is the accepted doctrine of philology that these are the 

 mere debris of words at one time in every way complete, origi- 

 nally nsed as the s^mibols of thought elements. In illnstration 

 it is best to make use of sentences containing verbs of action, 

 these being for many reasons the most frequent. Of these, too, 

 those known as active or transitive are the most striking, deal- 

 ing as they do with an action of which not only the source, but 

 also the eifects are regarded. With the active verb it is also 

 conspicuously important to know which of its attendant terms 

 is point of thought-departure or subject and which is point of ar- 

 rival or object. Indeed, it is a priori probable that any scheme for 

 announcing a so-called subject (actor) or object (actee) as such, 

 would originate with the active verb, the verb, that is, with 

 which, both being employed, the distinction between the two is 

 of special importance. To illustrate, suppose that a phenomenon 

 occurs describable by the statement '^A strikes (ferit) B." Sup- 

 pose it further uncertain, from this form of statement, whether 

 the striking is done by A or B. ISTote also that the relation ex- 

 pressed by "ferit" is that between a striker and one struck, be- 

 tween an actor and, say, an actee; for the reverse relation be- 

 tween one struck and a striker would be expressed by "f oritur."' 

 Given, then, the relation named by "ferit," if you are to con- 

 struct a thought like m.ine you must put "A" as first term and 

 "B" as last. If you should reverse the process, you would form 

 a thought conspicuously diif erent from my own. 



To avoid such an error, suppose I characterize "A" as an 

 active person and "B" as inactive. From such general char- 

 acterization you infer that in this particular case also "A" is 

 active or the actor, and "B" inactive or the actee. If, now, 

 "A" be actor, he must appear as first term, in order to fit the- 

 relation named by "ferit," that of actor to actee. For I can- 

 not, by thinking say from actee to actor, obtain the relation 

 of actor to actee, any more than I can obtain the sensation of 

 descent by climbing from a low point to a higher. Accordingly 

 the designation of "A" as active shows the function of "A" in 

 thought construction. 



