812 



ROSM1NI 



HOSS 



subject or tnuteer. Human cognitions are intuilinna 

 and affirmations, and tin- former necessarily precede 

 the latter, since they regard things in their possi- 

 liility, rather than merely formulate assertions aa 

 to whether they subsist or do not snl.-ist. In- 

 tuition then gives us possible objects ideas ; 

 affirmation, tiling sulwistent. Of ideas we may 

 aflirni ( 1 ) llmt tlicy are not nothing ; (2) that they 

 are not ourselves; (3) that they have a mode of 

 existence of their own, entirely different from that 

 of real orsubsistent things, anil independent of the 

 liodily sense. Their two essential characteristics 

 are tinirersality and necessity ; for real objects and 

 sensations are always particular, instead of being 

 universal and generic, and every object which 

 involves no contradiction is necessarily possible. 

 These two characteristics involve two others, 

 inlinity and eternity ; the origin of the ideas comea 

 from God, for man does not receive them from the 

 things themselves. The one indeterminate and 

 wholly universal idea is that of being or existence ; 

 we cannot determine the subsistence of an object 

 until we first have the idea of it, therefore per- 

 ception involves the idea which is further isolated 

 from all the other elements of the perception by the 

 process of universalisation, through which it may 

 be realised an indefinite number of times. When 

 the ideas are all fully or perfectly determined, they 

 are called concrete ; when they remain to a certain 

 extent indeterminate, tliey are abstract. Thedet.-i 

 initiations of the ideas are sensations; these are 

 merely the occasions of its discovery by the intelli- 

 gence, which can admit that to l>e possible which 

 the sensation represents as real. By the process of 

 universalisation then we form those ideas which are 

 completely determined ; by attraction, those which 

 are determined only to a certain extent. It is this 

 idea of being which makes intelligence possible : 

 it is the necessary form of human reason, the 

 indispensable condition given by nature herself, 

 the parent idea which generates all others. It is 

 cognisable by itself, as otherwise there is nothing 

 else that could make it known ; the idea of being 

 gives us itself the essence of the thing. Herein is 

 secured the objectivity of truth the faculty of 

 recognising the essence of things, the foundation 

 of the divine i//r^/iv of duty in the conscience 

 of man, the logical foundation on which faith and 

 charity may be su[>eniaturally built. Being is 

 incorporeal, independent of space, spiritual, and 

 therefore incorruptible and immortal. It is in- 

 dependent of time ; as being in its essence is 

 always being, and as it would be a contradiction 

 in terms for being to cense to lie lieing, it is 

 eternal. But since it was united to the soul in 

 time, it must have existed liefore it, and be 

 independent of it. And thus we reach an Intelli- 

 gence anterior to human intelligence -an Kternal 

 Mind. This eternal mind is Cod's, and therefore 

 ( JIM! exists, and his existence and the immortality 

 of the soul remain the true foundation of mnrals. 

 Hut bcinif as intuitively seen by nature merely 

 gives the certainty that (Jod exists; it cannot 

 make God known to us until we are illumined by 

 a new faculty an influx of objective light, the 

 Light of ( Jrace. Thus a necessary place for revela- 

 tion is found in the essential limitations of man's 

 nature, and this revelation nf God is contained 

 in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone can 

 harmonise all the contradictions nf the universe. 



Koimini's most important work was his oontrilmtinn 

 to Idealogy; his masterpiece is liis JVfa Kanu on the 

 Origin of Idea* 118.%; Eng. tnuis. 3 vols. 1883-R4) or 

 his PmAabff (1846-48; Kng. trans. 3 vol. 1884-88), 

 both of which belong to the clatmcs of philosophical 

 literature. Doth overtook him before he had completed 

 bin great projected work, the Tliroiophti (5 volg. 1859- 

 74). A complete Bibliography of his writings, ninety- 



nine in number, is prefixed by Thomas Davidson to hit 

 admirable translation (1882) of the Xittrma filiaopliieo 

 (1845), grouped under the heads of IdeaJogy and 1-otfic, 

 Metaphysical .Sciences, Philosophy of Moral, and Kiglit, 

 Education and Methodology, Political Philosophy, Philo- 

 sophy of the Supernatural, Kcclrsiastical Prose, and 

 Miscellaneous. 'I lie last section includes two volumes of 

 Correspondence, but u many as 15,000 Letters are said to 

 be still niiprmted. In Mr Davidson's work will be found, 

 besidri a brief Life and a lucid Introduction, a list of 

 books relating to riosmini's Life and Philosophy. Here 

 we may name the studies by Tonimaseo (Turin, 1856), 

 Franc. Paoli (Turin and Rovereto, 1880-84), and Father 

 Lockhart (2d ed. complete, 2 vols. 1886). Boamini'i 

 own Kkitch of Modern I'hilosaphiri and of hit Own Kyttem 

 has been translated, with an admirable Introduction, by 

 Father Lockhart ( 1882 ; 2d ed. 1890). 



Rosoglio. a variety of liqueur, made in Italy, 

 and flavoured with (lowers or fruits, especially 

 orange blossoms. 



Ktiss. a Celtic word, meaning a headland, occur- 

 ring as the name or part of the name of many 

 places in the British Islands, and in other parts of 

 Europe, as Roslin, Culross, Dunrossness, Mon- 

 trose, Roxburgh, Ardrossan. 



Ross, a market-town in Herefordshire, is finely 

 situated on the left link of the Wye, 14 miles s>| 

 of Hereford. In the parish church (1316), who-e 

 'heaven-directed spire' is 208 feet high, is buried 

 John Kyrle (q.v.), celebrated by Pope as the ' Man 

 of Ross.' The town carries on a trade in cider, 

 malt, and wool, has corn-mills and tanneries, and 

 is much visited by tourists. Pop. (1881) 3724; 

 (1891)3575. 



ROSS, SIR JOHN, Arctic voyager, born June 24, 

 1777, was a son of the minister of Inch, Wigtown- 

 shire, and was little more than nine years old when 

 he entered the navy, serving with distinction in 

 the French wars. His most ini[>ortant services 

 were rendered in the Arctic regions, whither in 

 1818 he proceeded with Parry as his second in 

 command; the objects of the expedition were to 

 explore Baftin Bay and attempt a North-west 

 1 'a -sage. Ross published the results of his investi- 

 gations in ^4 Voyage of Discovery (1819). In May 

 1829 he commanded a fresh expedition to the 

 Arctic regions (fitted out by Sir Jelix Booth), and 

 discovered the peninsula of Boothia Felix.' Ross 

 received, on his return in 1833, the honour of 

 knighthood. The results of this expedition were 

 written down in Narrative of a Second Voyage in 

 Search of a North-west Passage ( 1835). He made 

 yet another voyage to the Polar regions an un- 

 successful attempt to find Sir John Franklin, in 

 1850. ROBS wrote Memoirs tinil Cvrrt\v/>i/nttc>irc nf 

 Admiral Lord de Saumarez (2 vols. 1H38), a 

 Treatise on Navigation by Steam ( 1828), and other 

 works. He died in London, August 30, 1856. 



Sut JAMKS CI.AHK Ross, his nephew, also dis- 

 tinguished himself as an Arctic navigator. He was 

 IKIIII in London, April 15, 1800, entered the navv in 

 his twelfth year, accompanied Sir John in his first 

 and second Polar voyages, and in the intenal be- 

 tween visited the same regions with Parry in hisex- 

 |x-diiionB. He discovered in 1831 the north mag- 

 netic pole, and on his return was rewarded with a 

 post -captaincy. After being employed by the 

 Admiralty in a magnetic survey of Great Biil.iin 

 and Ireland, be was placed in command of the 

 Krrhnt and Terror for an expedition to the Ant- 

 arctic seas (1839), and approached within 160 miles 

 of the South magnetic pole. He was knighted 

 after his return home in 1843; and in 1847 pub- 

 lished Voyage of Discovery in South rni 1,'ii/ifns, 

 1839-4.1 (2 vols. 1847). In 1848 he made a voyage 

 in the Enterprise to Baffin Bay in search of sir 

 John Franklin. Hedied at Aylesbury, April 3, 1H02. 

 SIM- Mackinder, Ross and t/ie Antarctic ( 1892). 



