THE ABSTRACT AND THE CONCEETE DEFINED. 137 



(as a transition to the proper Alwaso terms ending in 

 -ski.) By Abstract-Concrete, Spencer means to say 

 Mixed or Undifferentiated into either completely Ab- 

 stract or completely Concrete, embracing all that is 

 neither wholly Abstract nor wholly Concrete, (Mik- 

 tonology B. O. Index, word Mikton.) 



162. But what is the meaning of the terms Abstract 

 and Concrete? Few persons have a very definite 

 conception of this very fundamental Scientific dis- 

 crimination. Only recentl} 7 a gentleman who had 

 spent his life-time in Scientific pursuits was heard ask- 

 ing for an accurate definition of these two terms. The 

 common reader need not, therefore, dread to confess a 

 certain obscurity which may rest in his thought on 

 this subject, and to seek by a little close thinking to 

 remove it. 



163. Etymologically, Abstract, from the Latin words 

 abs FROM, and tractus DRAWN, means draion asunder or 

 completely separated, and so, as it were, rendered thin, 

 but, also, transparent or dear ; and Concrete, from the 

 Latin con WITH, and cresco TO GROW, means grown to- 

 gether, solidified, or closely compacted, and so make thick, 

 heavy, dense, impervious to the light ; liJce solid or actual 

 material Things, contrasted with mere ideas or thoughts, 

 which are Abstract. Such is what is directly meant or 

 implied by the words. So, to abstract, mentally, is to 

 separate completely some one attribute of a subject, as 

 the color, for example, in order to consider it sepa- 

 rately. But all of this does not give a sufficiently true 

 and distinct idea of the meaning of Abstract and 

 Concrete, or of " The Abstract " and " The Concrete," 



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