An Essay on the Signs of Ideas. 265 
“ _as soon as we begin to move, our steps 
“ succeed in the government of rhythmical 
‘¢ pulsation. The swing of the arm, and other 
«© such motions, made by public speakers, are 
« derived from the instinctive sense of rhyth- 
“ mus, and are, in effect, beating time to 
“ their orations. Also cursing, swearing, 
“ and many other unmeaning words, so fre- 
« quently interwoven in common discourse, 
“‘ are merely expletives to fill the measure, 
«‘ and to round each rhythmical period.’’* 
Of words, which, as usually employed, 
are not the representatives of any specific set of 
ideas, instances are to be sought principally 
among those derived and compounded from the 
foreign and Jearned languages. Of this kind is 
the word blasphemy, which, not being the sign 
of any peculiar or appropriate idea or set of 
ideas in the mind of most speakers, will stand 
for any thing which they choose to call by that 
term. Superstition isan instance of a word, 
in the application of which hardly any two per- 
sons will agree. Heresy is another. In fact, to 
endeavour to point out every word of this kind, 
would be an endless task ; for, as the English 
language is formed from so many others, and 
has received so great a number of its words 
* Prosodia rationalis. London, MDCCLXXIX, page 118. 
VOL. III. ) Ll 
