462 



OPERATIONS SUBSIDIARY TO INDUCTION. 



constitutes as completely as in any 

 other case the whole meaning of the 

 term. It is no objection to say that 

 (as is often the case in natural history) 

 the set of characters may be changed, 

 and another substituted as being 

 better suited for the purpose of dis- 

 tinction, while the word, still conti- 

 nuing to denote the same group of 

 things, is not considered to have 

 changed its meaning. For this is no 

 more than may happen in the case of 

 any other general name : we may, 

 in reforming its connotation, leave 

 its denotation untouched ; and it is 

 generally desirable to do so. The 

 connotation, however, is not the less 

 for this the real meaning, for we at 

 once apply the name wherever the 

 characters set down in the definition 

 are found ; and that which exclusively 

 guides us in applying the term must 

 constitute its signification. If we 

 find, contrary to our previous belief, 

 that the characters are not peculiar 

 to one species, we cease to use the 

 term co-extensively with the char- 

 acters ; but then it is because the 

 other portion of the connotation fails ; 

 the condition that the class must be a 

 Kind. The connotation, therefore, is 

 stUl the meaning ; the set of descrip- 

 tive characters is a true definition ; 

 and the meaning is unfolded, not 

 indeed (as in other cases) by the 

 definition alone, but by the definition 

 and the form of the word taken to- 

 gether. 



§ 6. We have now analysed what 

 is implied in the two principal re- 

 quisites of a philosophical language ; 

 first, precision, or definiteness, and 

 secondly, completeness. Any further 

 remarks on the mode of constructing 

 a nomenclature must be deferred 

 until we treat of Classification ; the 

 mode of naming the Kinds of things 

 being necessarily subordinate to the 

 mode of arranging those Kinds into 

 larger classes. With respect to the 

 minor requisites of terminology, some 

 of them are well stated and illus- 

 tr*t«i in the " Aphorisms concerning 



the Language of Science," Included 

 in Dr. Whewell's Philosophy of the 

 Inductive Sciences. These, as being of 

 secondary importance in the peculiar 

 point of view of Logic, I shall not 

 further refer to, but shall confine my 

 observations to one more quality, 

 which, next to the two already treated 

 of, appears to be the most valuable 

 which the language of science can 

 possess. Of this quality a general 

 notion may be conveyed by the fol- 

 lowing aphorism : — 



Whenever the nature of the sub- 

 ject permits our reasoning processes 

 to be, without danger, carried on 

 mechanically, the language should be 

 constructed on as mechanical prin- 

 ciples as possible : while in the con- 

 trary case, it should be so constructed 

 that there shall be the greatest pos- 

 sible obstacles to a merely mechanical 

 use of it. 



I am aware that this maxim re- 

 quires much explanation, which I 

 shall at once proceed to give. And 

 first, as to what is meant by using 

 a language mechanically. The com- 

 plete or extreme case of the mechani- 

 cal use of language is when it is 

 used without any consciousness of a 

 meaning, and with only the conscious- 

 ness of using certain visible or audible 

 marks in conformity to technical 

 rules previously laid down. This 

 extreme case is nowhere realised 

 except in the figures of arithmetic, 

 and still more the symbols of algebra, 

 a language unique in its kind, and 

 approaching as nearly to perfection, 

 for the purposes to which it is des- 

 tined, as can, perhaps, be said of any 

 creation of the human mind. Its 

 perfection consists in the complete- 

 ness of its adaptation to a purely 

 mechanical use. The symbols are 

 mere counters, without even the sem- 

 blance of a meaning apart from the 

 convention, whicli is renewed each 

 time they are employed, and which 

 is altered at each renewal, the same 

 symbol a or a; being used on different 

 occasions to represent things which 

 (except that, like 9M things, they ar^ 



T 



