THINGS DENOTED BY NAMES. 71 



causes ; the very absurdity which Moliere so happily ridiculed 

 when he made one of his pedantic physicians account for the 

 fact that " 1'opium endormit," by the maxim " parcequ'il a une 

 vertu soporifique." 



It is evident that when the physician stated that opium 

 had " une vertu soporifique," he did not account for, but merely 

 asserted over again, the fact that it endormit. In like manner, 

 when we say that snow is white because it has the quality of 

 whiteness, we are only re-asserting in more technical language 

 the fact that it excites in us the sensation of white. If it be 

 said that the sensation must have some cause, I answer, its 

 cause is the presence of the assemblage of phenomena which 

 is termed the object. When we have asserted that as often as 

 the object is present, and our organs in their normal state, the 

 sensation takes place, we have stated all that we know about 

 the matter. There is no need, after assigning a certain and 

 intelligible cause, to suppose an occult cause besides, for the 

 purpose of enabling the real cause to produce its effect. If I 

 am asked, why does the presence of the object cause this sen- 

 sation in me, I cannot tell : I can only say that such is my 

 nature, and the nature of the object; that the fact forms a 

 part of the constitution of things. And to this we must at last 

 come, even after interpolating 'the imaginary entity. Whatever 

 number of links the chain of causes and effects may consist of, 

 how any one link produces the one which is next to it, remains 

 equally inexplicable to us. It is as easy to comprehend that 

 the object should produce the sensation directly and at once, 

 as that it should produce the same sensation by the aid of 

 something else called the power of producing it. 



But, as the difficulties which may be felt in adopting this 

 view of the subject cannot be removed without discussions 

 transcending the bounds of our science, I content myself with 

 a passing indication, and shall, for the purposes of logic, adopt 

 a language compatible with either view of the nature of quali- 

 ties. I shall say, what at least admits of no dispute, that 

 the quality of whiteness ascribed to the object snow, is grounded 

 on its exciting in us the sensation of white ; and adopting the 

 language already used by the school logicians in the case of the 



