248 EVOLUTION AND MAN S PLACE IN NATURE 



a physical process ; the second to naming of things as 

 a mental process. It is the combination of these two 

 which appears when written language is spoken. We 

 cannot err so egregiously as to confound the two 

 processes. The difference between the vocal cords, 

 and thought-power, is plain enough. Their com 

 bination in a single course of action, as in familiar 

 interchange of thought, cannot mislead us, as if sound 

 were the cause of thought; or as if thought were 

 being originated by the vocables falling from our lips. 

 Vocables vary according to traditional usage, even 

 when the conceptions expressed are identical. It is 

 on account of the identity of conceptions, that trans 

 lation is easy. Thought is the antecedent condition, 

 finding expression for itself in conventional forms. 

 Laws of thought are far apart from laws of vocalisation. 

 The severance is so great that it is impossible to 

 confound them, as it is impossible that the two forms 

 of activity should cross each other. Of vocalisation, 

 physiology gives a scientific account; of thought 

 procedure, and the laws directing its movement, 

 physiology affords no explanation. Thoughts are 

 transitory, as are our utterances. Verlum volat 

 irrevocabile. Yet words are fixed. The national 

 language remains, while citizens emigrate or die. But 

 thought gives to words their significance, as it gives 

 form to language as a whole, determining the life-history 

 of its words. It naturally follows, that the instrument 

 which thought creates is useful in the history of 

 mental activity. Words are as the tools we use. But 

 for its utility, the instrument would not be produced. 

 It will be cast aside, as soon as a better has been 

 invented. A name is a word taken at pleasure to 



