266 Human Understanding* 



determinate object, and thereby making 

 it to denote a whole rank or class of things. 

 Hence we acquire Universal Ideas, such 

 as whiteness, beauty, melody, &c. 



Comparison is bringing two or more 

 ideas into the view of the mind, and ex- 

 amining their mutual correspondencies* 

 By comparison we gain our ideas of Re- 

 lations, which are proportional, as equal, 

 more, less, Sec. or natural, as father, 

 mother, &c. or civil, as king and people,, 

 general and army, &c. 



This division of our ideas, as it seems 

 to be the most natural, and truly to rep- 

 resent the manner in which they are in- 

 troduced into the mind, will be found to 

 include them in all their varieties. 



We know that our thoughts, although 

 so numerous and manifold, are all con- 

 tained within our own breasts, and are in- 

 visible. But as men were not created to 

 live solitarily, or independently of each 

 other, we are provided with organs pro- 

 per for framing articulate sounds, and a 

 capacity of using those sounds as signs of 

 internal conceptions. From hence are 

 derived words and language. For any 

 sound being once determined upon to 



