INTRINSIC LAW OF APPREHENSION. 143 



is actual, psychical, and physical. The abstract 

 conception is a psychical symbol composed of idea 

 and consciousness, or rather of act and consciousness ; 

 both are fused into a logical conception of indefinite 

 form, yet consisting of real elements, that is, of 

 cerebral motions and of sensations. 



Estimated according to its genuine value, there- 

 fore, an abstract conception may be divided into three 

 classes physical, moral, and intellectual. Whiteness 

 and colours in general, levity and weight, hardness, 

 sound, and the like qualities, are all abstract types 

 which belong to the physical class. Goodness, virtue, 

 love, hatred, and anger must be assigned to the moral 

 class ; and equality, identity", number, and quantity, 

 etc., to the intellectual class. Such abstract concep- 

 tions, without which human speech would be im- 

 possible, did not in the case of primitive man take 

 the explicit and reflex form in which they are 

 presented by mature science, and it is expedient to 

 inquire what character they really assumed in the 

 spontaneous exercise of thought and speech. 



There is certainly a difference between the mythical 

 and specific types and the intrinsic value of these 

 abstract conceptions. The former served for the caus- 

 ative interpretation of the living system of the world, 

 and had a superstitious influence on the moral and 

 social progress of mankind; the latter were merely 

 the instrument of thought and speech, and were in 

 spontaneous and daily use. But in spite of this 



