Human Understanding. 26JT 



stand as the sign of an idea, custom by 

 degrees establishes such a connexion be- 

 tween them, that the appearance of the 

 idea in the understanding always brings 

 to our remembrance the name by which 

 it is expressed ; and in like manner the 

 hearing of the name never fails to excite 

 the idea which it is intended to denote. 

 This connexion between words and ideas, 

 however, is perfectly arbitrary, and 

 dependent on custom. 



By language we are enabled to define 

 our ideas. Definition is " the showing 

 the meaning of one word by several oth- 

 er not synonymous terms." And here it 

 may be observed, that Simple Ideas can- 

 not be defined, since definition is resol- 

 ving the thing to be defined into its most 

 simple ideas ; but Complex Ideas may be 

 defined, because they may be resolved in- 

 to their simple ideas. Definition furnish- 

 es us with the fittest means of communica- 

 ting our thoughts ; for if we were unable 

 to impart our Complex Ideas to each oth- 

 er by the aid of definition, it would in ma- 

 ny cases be impossible to make them 

 known. This is evident in those ideas 

 which are solely the offspring of the min(l 



