Essays on Life 



hitch our new ones ; but to multiply them in 

 respect of such a matter as thought, is like 

 scratching the bite of a gnat ; the more we 

 scratch the more we want to scratch ; the 

 more we define the more we shall have to go 

 on defining the words we have used in our 

 definitions, and shall end by setting up a 

 serious mental raw in the place of a small 

 uneasiness that was after all quite endurable. 

 We know too well what thought is, to be 

 able to know that we know it, and I am per- 

 suaded there is no one in this room but 

 understands what is meant by thought and 

 thinking well enough for all the purposes of 

 this discussion. Whoever does not know this 

 without words will not learn it for all the 

 words and definitions that are laid before him. 

 The more, indeed, he hears, the more confused 

 he will become. I shall, therefore, merely 

 premise that I use the word " thought " in the 

 same sense as that in which it is generally 

 used by people who say that they think this 

 or that. At any rate, it will be enough if I 

 take Professor Max Miiller's own definition, 

 and say that its essence consists in a bringing 



180 



