46 



NAMES AND PROPOSITIONS. 



different as those' of identity and un- 

 distinguishable resemblance. Among 

 modern writers, Archbishop Whately 

 stands almost alone in having drawn 

 attention to this distinction, and to 

 the ambiguity connected with it. 



Several relations, generally called 

 by other names, are really cases of re- 

 semblance. As, for example, equality ; 

 which is but another word for the 

 exact resemblance commonly called 

 identity, considered as subsisting be- 

 tween things in respect of their 

 quantity. And this example forms a 

 suitable transition to the third and 

 last of the three heads under which, 

 as already remarked, Attributes are 

 commonly arranged. 



V. QUANTITT. 



§ 12. Let us imagine two things, 

 between which there is no difference, 

 (that is, no dissimilarity,) except in 

 quantity alone : for instance, a gallon 

 of water, and more than a gallon of 

 water. A gallon of water, like any 

 other external object, makes its pre- 

 sence known to us by a set of sensa- 

 tions which it excites. Ten gallons 

 of water are also an external object, 

 making its presence known to us in a 

 similar manner ; and as we do not 

 mistake ten gallons of water for a 

 gallon of water, it is plain that the 

 set of sensations is more or less dif- 

 ferent in the two cases. In like 

 manner, a gallon of water, and a 

 gallon of wine, are two external 

 objects, making their presence known 

 by two sets of sensations, which sensa- 

 tions are different from each other. In 

 the first case, however, we say that the 

 difference is in quantity ; in the last 

 there is a difference in quality, while 

 the quantity of the water and of the 

 wine is the same. What is the real 

 distinction between the two cases ? It 

 is not within the province of Logic to 

 analyse it ; nor to decide whether it 

 is susceptible of analysis or not. For 

 us the following considerations are 

 sufficient. It is evident that the 

 geusations I receive from the gallon of 



water, and those I received from the 

 gallon of wine, are not the same, that 

 is, not precisely alike ; neither are 

 they altogether unlike : they are 

 partly similar, partly dissimilar ; and 

 that in which they resemble is pre- 

 cisely that in which alone the gallon 

 of water and the ten gallons do not 

 resemble. That in which the gallon 

 of water and the gallon of wine are 

 like each other, and in which the 

 gallon and the ten gallons of water 

 are unlike each other, is called their 

 quantity. This likeness and unlike- 

 ness I do not pretend to explain, no 

 more than any other kind of likeness 

 or unlikeness. But my object is to 

 show, that when we say of two things 

 that they differ in quantity, just as 

 when we say that they differ in 

 quality, the assertion is always 

 grounded on a difference in the sen- 

 sations which they excite. Nobody, 

 I presume, will say, that to see, or to 

 lift, or to drink, ten gallons of water, 

 does not include in itself a different 

 set of sensations from those of seeing, 

 lifting, or drinking one gallon ; or 

 that to see or handle a foot-rule, and 

 to see or handle a yard-measure made 

 exactly like it, are the same sensations. 

 I do not undertake to say what the 

 difference in the sensations is. Every- 

 body knows, and nobody can tell ; no 

 more than any one could tell what 

 white is to a person who had never 

 had the sensation. But the differ- 

 ence, so far as cognizable by our 

 faculties, lies in the sensations. 

 Whatever difference we say there is 

 in the things themselves, is in this, 

 as in all other cases, grounded, and 

 grounded exclusively, on a difference 

 in the sensations excited by them. 



YI. Attributes Concluded. 



§ 13. Thus, then, all the attri- 

 butes of bodies which are classed 

 under Quality or Quantity, are 

 grounded on the sensations which we 

 received from those bodies, and may 

 be defined, the powers which the 

 boclies have of exciting those scR' 



