NAMES. 



15 



and not the name of our idea of the 

 sun. For names are not intended 

 only to make the hearer conceive 

 what we conceive, but also to inform 

 him what we believe. Now, when I 

 use a name for the purpose of express- 

 ing a belief, it is a belief concerning 

 the thing itself, not concerning my 

 idea of it. When I say, "the sun is 

 the cause of day," I do not mean that 

 my idea of the sun causes or excites 

 in me the idea of day : or in other 

 words, that thinking of the sun makes 

 me think of day. I mean, that a 

 certain physical fact, which is called 

 the sun's presence (and which, in the 

 ultimate analysis, resolves itself into 

 sensations, not ideas) causes another 

 physical fact, which is called day. 

 It seems proper to consider a word 

 as the name of that which we intend 

 to be understood by it when we use 

 it ; of that which any fact that we 

 assert of it is to be understood of ; 

 that, in short, concerning which, when 

 we employ the word, we intend to give 

 information. Names, therefore, shall 

 always be spoken of in this work as 

 the names of things themselves, and 

 not merely of our ideas of things. 



But the question now arises, of what 

 things ? and to answer this it is neces- 

 sary to take into consideration the 

 different kinds of names. 



§ 2. It is usual, before examining 

 the various classes into which names 

 are commonly divided, to begin by 

 distinguishing from names of every 

 description, those words which are 

 not names, but only parts of names. 

 Among such are reckoned particles, 

 as of, to, trull/, often; the inflected 

 cases of nouns substantive, as me, him, 

 Johns ; and even adjectives, as large, 

 heavy. These words do not express 

 things of which anything can be 

 afiii'med or denied. We cannot say. 

 Heavy fell, or A heavy fell ; Truly, 

 or A truly, was asserted ; Of, or An 

 of, was in the room. Unless, indeed, 

 we are speaking of the mere words 

 themselves, as when we say, Truly is 

 an English word, or, Heavy is an 



adjective. In that case they are com- 

 plete names, viz. names of those parti- 

 cular sounds, or of those particular 

 collections of written characters. This 

 employment of a word to denote the 

 mere letters and syllables of which it 

 is composed, was termed by the school- 

 men the suppositio materialis of the 

 word. In any other sense we cannot 

 introduce one of these words into the 

 subject of a proposition, unless in 

 combination with other words ; as, 

 A heavy body fell, A truly important 

 fact was asserted, A member of parlia- 

 ment was in the room. 



An adjective, however, is capable 

 of standing by itself as the predicate 

 of a proposition ; as when we say. 

 Snow is white j and occasionally even 

 as the subject, for we may say. White 

 is an agreeable colour. The adjective 

 is often said to be so used by a gram- 

 matical ellipsis : Snow is white, in- 

 stead of Snow is a white object : 

 White is an agreeable colour, instead 

 of, A white colour, or, The colour 

 white, is agreeable. The Greeks and 

 Romans were allowed, by the rules of 

 their language, to employ this ellipsis 

 universally in the subject as well as 

 in the predicate of a proposition. In 

 English this cannot, generally speak- 

 ing, be done. We may say, The 

 earth is round ; but we cannot say, 

 Round is easily moved ; we must say, 

 A round object. This distinction, 

 however, is rather grammatical than 

 logical. Since there is no difference 

 of meaning between round, and a 

 round object, it is only custom which 

 prescribes that on any given occasion 

 one shall be used, and not the other. 

 We shall, therefore, without scruple, 

 speak of adjectives as names, whether 

 in their own right, or as representa- 

 tive of the more circuitous forms of 

 expression above exemplified. The 

 other classes of subsidiary words have 

 no title whatever to be considered as 

 names. An adverb, or an accusative 

 case, cannot under any circumstances 

 (except when their mere letters and 

 syllables are spoken of) figure as one 

 of the terms of a proposition, 



