CLX ADMINlSTR-iTIVE REPORT [kth. ann. 20 



nated, but as the internal .structure gives rise to the external 

 shape, both striictnre and shape are exjDressed by the term form. 

 A spoken word is a succession of sounds. By a figure of speech 

 ^^■e speak of the spoken word as a /or/H, meaning thereby a 

 succession which is an element of time, not of space. This 

 usage is convenient, but it must be carefully distinguished 

 when we reason, for the confusion which arises when a time 

 succession is confounded with a spacial series is such a fallacy 

 in science as to be disastrous. In psychologA'' contiguity in 

 time and contiguity in space are often confounded, especially 

 in the discussion of the laws of memory. 



The term form is sometimes used with a figui'ative meaning 

 in other ways, as when we say "the form of an argument," 

 meaning thereb}' the constitution of an argument, or the order 

 in which the averments occur. In tliis sense every argument 

 has a form; but it is not the i'orm of space — it is the form of 

 succession or time. When tlie argument is committed to writ- 

 ing, the letters may have forms as the sounds have succession; 

 but the letters not only liave forms, they also have succes- 

 sions. In the same manner written sentences have forms as 

 well as successions. In this fact tliere is another source of 

 obscuration in the use of the term form. Rightly understood 

 it is proper, but if neglected it is a source of fixllacy. In ))hi- 

 losophy it is better to use the term ./or;H only to express struc- 

 ture and shape as they are found in space. 



Tlie story of the confusion of meanings in the use of the 

 term form is yet but imperfectly told, for there are many 

 derivatives of the word, as formation and formative. We niay 

 use the verb to form, in any of the senses of "to make," "to 

 produce," or "to generate." Sometimes we may be consider- 

 ing only the spacial form, but when we are considering some 

 otlier topic tlie word is used in a sense which may give rise to 

 confusion. I may combine oxygen and liydrogen and pro- 

 duce water, and I may say that oxygen and hydrogen form 

 water, when I mean that they produce water, or that the com- 

 bination of the two substances results in water. The use of 

 the term in this manner is convenient and rarely leads to mis- 

 apprehension; but when in science we use the i^ww form out of 



