500 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



2°. The perception of a moving cloud is also a part of 

 another group, a very useful hypothetical group, in which it 

 is joined, not with the other thoughts at present in my mind, 

 but with all the other perceptions that the onto-cloud could 

 successively produce in my mind. 



3°. This useful hypothetical group, which may be called 

 the objective cloud, is not the cause of my perceptions. The 

 true cause must be sought elsewhere, and to give it a name we 

 call it the onto-cloud. 



We have passed successively under review two acts of synthesis 

 — the synthesis of the first order, whereby sensations are trans- 

 formed into perceptions ; and the further synthesis which may be 

 called a synthesis of the second order, whereby certain perceptions 

 are built together into the phenomenal object, which is a kind of 

 synopton or collected view of materials, only a small part of 

 which are in existence at any one time. But in reality these two 

 acts of synthesis are now carried on by my mind and its synergos 

 simultaneously and with equal ease and promptitude, and it is 

 probable that the gradually acquired power to make them was 

 developed pari passu in my ancestors. 



For the sake of completeness it is well here to assign a name to 

 my thought about the phenomenal object. This we may call the 

 phenomenon, 1 or phenomenal thought. The phenomenon at 

 any particular time consists of all or some of the following : — 



1. The actual perceptions which at that time the sense- 

 compelling auto is producing in me, if there are any such 

 perceptions existing at that time. 



2. My memory of the perceptions which that auto has on 

 other occasions produced in me. 



3. My anticipation of such perceptions as I suppose it 

 would produce in me under other circumstances. 



4. Certain suppositions with respect to this group of per- 

 ceptions. 



1 The word phenomenon has three established meanings : 1°. It is used by meta- 

 physicians, as in the text, to mean thought in the mind. This is the original meaning 

 of the term : the other two meanings are of recent date. 2°. It is used to mean an 

 extraordinary occurrence. This is the popular acceptation of the word. 3°. It is used 

 to mean any natural object or event in nature. This is the meaning attributed to it in 

 works on Natural Science. 



