An Introduction to a Biology 



moorings which confined it to the mind, and is 

 used in the passive mood, as synonymous with 

 "situate," to denote a purely objective state. The 

 Century Club is located in West 42nd Street in New 

 York. In this sense it is an intransitive verb ; and 

 although in this sense it is generally used in the 

 passive mood, it can also be used in the active 

 mood, so that one can say that one is going to 

 " locate " in Milwaukee. What has happened is 

 this. At one period during its existence on the 

 American continent this word, which originally applied 

 to a process which took place in the mind, extended 

 its application to processes — or rather states — which 

 are outside the mind. Its meaning, like that of so 

 many other words, has been caught up in the Kishon 

 of the mind. The river Kishon swept them away — 

 that ancient river, the river Kishon. 



I have used the word " locate " partly because 

 it serves to illustrate the habit of the mind to let 

 its offspring escape from it into the world outside, 

 but also because the British meaning of the word 

 denotes a process which has been neglected by the 

 biologist in his attempt to interpret life. It is 

 essential that he should locate the laws that relate 

 to life. I am not asking him to agree with me in 

 placing them in the mind, but pointing out the 

 necessity of locating them before talldng about 

 them. 



It was said above that the most troublesome 

 cases are those in which one word has more than 

 one meaning. The reason that these cases lead to 

 confusion is that word and meaning are mutually 

 interpenetrating, so that the flavour given to a 



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