THINGS DENOTED BY NAMES. 55 



ever we are internally conscious of when we are said to think ; 

 from the consciousness we have when we think of a red colour 

 without having it before our eyes, to the most recondite 

 thoughts of a philosopher or poet. Be it remembered, how 

 ever, that by a thought is to be understood what passes in the 

 mind itself, and not any object external to the mind, which the 

 person is commonly said to be thinking of. He may be think 

 ing of the sun, or of God, but the sun and God are not 

 thoughts ; his mental image, however, of the sun, and his idea 

 of God, are thoughts ; states of his mind, not of the objects 

 themselves ; and so also is his belief of the existence of the sun, 

 or of God ; or his disbelief, if the case be so. Even imaginary 

 objects (which are said to exist only in our ideas) are to be 

 distinguished from our ideas of them. I may think of a 

 hobgoblin, as I may think of the loaf which was eaten yester 

 day, or of the flower which will bloom to-morrow. But the 

 hobgoblin which never existed is not the same thing with my 

 idea of a hobgoblin, any more than the loaf which once existed 

 is the same thing with my idea of a loaf, or the flower which 

 does not yet exist, but which will exist, is the same with my 

 idea of a flower. They are all, not thoughts, but objects of 

 thought ; though at the present time all the objects are alike 

 non-existent. 



In like manner, a Sensation is to be carefully distinguished 

 from the object which causes the sensation ; our sensation of 

 white from a white object : nor is it less to be distinguished 

 from the attribute whiteness, which we ascribe to the object in 

 consequence of its exciting the sensation. Unfortunately foi 

 clearness and due discrimination in considering these subjects, 

 our sensations seldom receive separate names. We have a name 

 for the objects which produce in us a certain sensation : the 

 word white. We have a name for the quality in those objects, 

 to which we ascribe the sensation : the name whiteness. But 

 when we speak of the sensation itself (as we have not occasion 

 to do this often except in our scientific speculations), language, 

 which adapts itself for the most part only to the common uses 

 of life, has provided us with no single-worded or immediate 

 designation ; we must employ a circumlocution, and say, The 



