VERBAL AND REAL PROPOSITIONS. 157 



5. With respect to propositions which do con- 

 vey information, which assert something of a Thing, 

 under a name that does not already presuppose what 

 is about to be asserted, there are two different aspects 

 in which these, or rather such of them as are general 

 propositions, may be considered : we may either look 

 at them as portions of speculative truth, or as memo- 

 randa for practical use. According as we consider 

 propositions in one or the other of these lights, their 

 import may be conveniently expressed in one or in 

 the other of two formulas. 



According to the formula which we have hitherto 

 employed, and which is best adapted to express the 

 import of the proposition as a portion of our theo- 

 retical knowledge, All men are mortal, means that 

 the attributes of man are always accompanied by the 

 attribute mortality : No men are gods, means that the 

 attributes of man are never accompanied by the attri- 

 butes, or at least never by all the attributes, of a god. 

 But when the proposition is considered as a memo- 

 randum for practical use, we shall find a different 

 mode of expressing the same meaning better adapted 

 to indicate the office which the proposition performs. 

 The practical use of a proposition is to apprise or 

 remind us what we have to expect in any individual 

 case which comes within the assertion contained in 

 the proposition. In reference to this purpose, the 

 proposition, All men are mortal, means that the attri- 

 butes of man are evidence of, are a mark of, mortality; 

 an indication by which the presence of that attribute 

 is made manifest. No men are gods, means that the 

 attributes of man are a mark or evidence that some or 

 all of the attributes of a god are not there; that where 

 the former are, we need not expect to find the latter. 



These two forms of expression are at bottom equi- 



