CHAPTEE II. 



TERMS. 



EVERY proposition expresses the resemblance or differ- 

 ence of the things denoted by its terms. As reasoning 

 or inference treats of the relation between two or more 

 propositions, so a proposition consists in a relation 

 between two or more terms. In the portion of this 

 work which treats of deduction it will be convenient 

 to follow the usual order of exposition, and consider in 

 succession the various kinds of terms, propositions, and 

 arguments, and we commence in this chapter with terms. 



The simplest and most palpable meaning which can 

 belong to a term consists of some single material object, 

 such as Westminster Abbey, the Sun, Sirius, Stonehenge, 

 &c. It is probable that in. the earliest stages of intellect 

 only concrete and palpable things are the objects of 

 thought. The youngest child knows the difference 

 between a hot and a cold body. The dog can recognise 

 his master among a hundred other persons, and animals 

 of much lower intelligence know and discriminate their 

 haunts. In all such acts there is judgment concerning 

 the likeness or unlikeness of physical objects, but there 

 is little or no power of analysing each object and re- 

 garding it as a group of qualities or circumstances. 



The dignity of intellect begins with the power of 

 separating points of agreement from those of difference . 

 Comparison of two objects may lead us to perceive that 



