16 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Aiis, and Letters. 



CHAPTEE II.— VICAEIOUS WORDS OR TRUE PRO- 

 NOUNS. 



I. THOUGHT PHENOMENA IX WHICH THEY FIGURE. 



It may be assumed of any thought, as "A exceeds B", that if 

 any element, as "A'', retires from my consciousness before I 

 think of ^'exceeds B", I fail to form the thought expressed by 

 "A exceeds B". That is, the elements of a thouoht must exist 

 in the mind together; and this is true not only of myself 

 but also of him who seeks to understand me. The success of 

 the latter being first of all conditioned on attention, this is com- 

 monly accentuated as the hearer's duty. His duty is, however, 

 plainly much more onerous. Not merely must he attend to my 

 words and thereby attain their meanings ; but further, what he 

 thus attains he must retain, till all the factors of my thought 

 are assembled in his mind. 



It is less generally recognized that, were retention excessive, 

 continued thought-reception would be impossible. To illustrate, 

 having said that ^'3479 exceeds 1958", I wish further to inform 

 you that "9x73 = 657". I venture to predict that you will 

 be quite unable even to harbor my second proposition, until you 

 are mentally disencumbered of all that belongs to the first. Your 

 duty as a hearer is then double. You must hold each element 

 of thought presented, until all are delivered ; you must also dis- 

 miss all, before attemipting the reception of another thought. 

 You must indeed hold fast ; you must as truly also lay aside. 



I do not mean however that, before the reception of a later 

 thought, the elements of a prior thought retire beyond recall. 

 If not too late, they may be brought back. By such a phrase a3 

 "the first mentioned number" I may still revive in your mind 

 what I first suggested by "3479". This idea, it is true, with- 

 drew from vour mental stae:e, Avhen the thou2;ht of which it 

 formed a part was completed. But it did not go far ; though 

 what may be called the first scene of the colloquial drama was 



