246 H. m'coll on the growth and 



X. This suggested the propriety of considering c too as a 

 statement, instead o£ a mere arbitrary abbreviation for ^' the 

 chance of the truth of," and it soon became evident what 

 that statement must be. The constant suffix c, like the 

 variable suffix x, must denote a statement taTcen for 

 granted; but, unlike the variable x, it must denote a 

 statement whose truth is taken for granted always — that is, 

 throughout the whole of an investigation. In other words, 

 the suffix c must be an exact equivalent for the logical 

 symbol i. 



This, however, necessitated other symbolical changes. 

 As long as the suffix c did not denote a statement, I was at 

 liberty to use this letter in conjunction with the letters a 

 and h in other positions as a statement ; so that Cc (like «c 

 and Z>c) would simply denote the chance of the truth of the 

 statement c, and its value might vary from o to i ; but 

 with the new meaning of the suffix c, we should always 

 have Cc= I. It thus became expedient to leave c at liberty 

 to discharge other functions in company with its old com- 

 rades a and b, and to intrust the duty of denoting univer- 

 sally admitted statements to some letter whose services in 

 other capacities could be more easily spared. I decided, 

 after some hesitation, on the Greek letter e, which is easily 

 formed, pleasing to the eye, and not often wanted. It 

 may be asked, why was I not satisfied with the symbol i, 

 which already denoted an admitted statement ? My 

 answer is, first, that I thought this numeral would not looh 

 well in frequent companionship with literal suffixes ; and, 

 next, that I thought it better to reserve it, in company 

 with other numerals, for distinguishing statements of the 

 same class or series, as a„ a^,, a^ &c., which, though different 

 statements, will generally be found to have some common 

 factor or characteristic a. 



Having thus decided that g should denote a statement 



