G 11 A r-.I MAR. 



Names of iinlividuuls ilo not enter into the compo- 

 fition of language ; bccaufc individual objcfts are too nume- 

 rous to liave each a dilliiift name; and becaufe language 

 would then bo changing in endlcfs fuccefiion, each term dy- 

 ing away with the objctl it figniiied, and another riling to 

 occupy its place. This is the reafon why proper names 

 cannot be trandated from one tongue to another, the indi- 

 viduals fpecified by them, being confined to one time and 

 one place, are not capable of bting the prototypes of words 

 in other times and places. Individuals, however, among 

 men, animals, and places, which the purpofes of life ren- 

 der it ncceflary to fpecify, have appropriate nanifs given 

 them to diftinguilh them from all other individuals. And 

 it fometimes happens that when individuals alnong men bc^ 

 come eminent for any attainment or profeffion, their names 

 are ufed to defignate others who are eminent in the fame 

 ■way. Thus proper names are fometimes converted into 

 common names. The former are called proper, as being 

 peculiar to individuals, in oppofition to fuch names as are 

 common to all the individuals of a clafs. 



The perceptions of the human mind, as we have ob- 

 ferved, commence with individual ohjeCls: but we arc foou 

 induced to compare thofeobjefts; and on comparing indi- 

 viduals together, we readily difeern a refemblance between 

 them in foine things while they differ in others. The mind 

 then feparates the particulars in which objefts differ, and 

 eollctts into one idea their points of iimilitude. Thus it 

 forms ideas of claffes, or in logic called Jpecics, compre- 

 liending under them various individuals, rifter this the 

 fpecies themfelves foon become fubjefts of comparifon ; and 

 excluding from each its individual qualities, the human 

 mind formed thofe more general aggregates termed kinds, 

 comprehending under them different Ipecies, as the fpecies 

 comprehend different individuals. Thus mankind clafii- 

 iied all the objects around them, and acquired fpecific and 

 generic ideas in nature, in art, and in abllraft qualities. 

 Having, as it is fuppofed, firil advanced in the clafTifiea- 

 tion of their ideas, men gave names to each clafs, and tlius 

 Required thofe general terms which are called fpecific and 

 generic terms. But we have already fhewn that the pre- 

 cefs of the human mind, in the principle of ab'lraftion, is 

 the reverfe of this: general terms do not arifc, as will 

 appear evident if we attend to the commencement of edu- 

 cation in ourfelves and others, from general ideas, but, on 

 the contrary, general ideas arife from general terms. The 

 former have noexillence till they are generated in the mind 

 folely by the inllrumentality of language; the learner being 

 iwooluTilarily and pajjlvelf led by the luceefTive application 

 of the fame word to different individuals of the fame clafs, 

 to compare thSm, to feparate their component parts where 

 they differ, and to combine. them where they agree. In 

 this point of view, grammar is the foundation of logic ; 

 and language, inflead of being the offspring of human in- 

 vention, is the fole medium of awakening the firll dawn 

 of intelligence in llic huuvin mind, and points for its ckHU 

 ence to fome intelligence fiipericr to man. 



Speeific and generic ideas being thus formed, the 

 fubjett matter of language is reduced, fo as to be commen- 

 Jurale with the limited faculties of man ; becaufe, though 

 individual objifts are infinite, the clafTes comprehending 

 them are comparatively few. The fubjeft matter of fpecch 

 by this means, nioreover, is rendered pernument and iini- 

 iterj'al, or unconfiiied to points of fpace and tim.e; becaufe, 

 though particular things are local and tranlient, the fpecies 

 and kinds of things are univerfal and eternal. This is the 

 reafon why words whie-h are unintelligible in one age and 

 country are underftwod iu other ages and caantries: and 



may be trandated from one tongue into another, without 

 ambiguity or error, where the prototypes exlll in common. 

 Farther, though general terms are often indefinite and un- 

 certain, yet whenever they exprefs fpecies or kinds, they 

 may be defined by afcertaining the feveral ideas which con- 

 ftitute thofe fpecies or kinds. And as the properties which 

 conftitute each clafs are found complete in each individual 

 of each clafs, the name of the kind is applied to each of 

 the fpecies; and the name of the fpecies to each individual 

 included under it: and thus generic and fpecific terms are 

 employed by the alTiflance of certain adjuntls hereafter to 

 be confidcred, to denote individuals. 



General ideas may be confidered as abftraft ideas, a? 

 they are generated by the mind feparating or alJlrOLling 

 from each objccl thofe particularities wiiich conlHtuU- 

 individuality. But they arc to be dllllnguilhed, at leail 

 in a grammatical view, from that numerous and importan;: 

 clafs of ideas whicti we acquire by t!ie uiore limple aft ol 

 fcparati.ig from a thing the quality which belongs to it. 

 Thus, the attribute to think becomes thought ; and ^ood i:> 

 converted into ^oodnefs. Abllraft nouns of this kind are 

 all, without exception, derived from v.rhs and adj. dives, 

 and formed by the fimple power of withdrawiRg a property 

 from the fubjeft which fupports it, and giving it an inde- 

 pendent exillence in the imagination. Now, it is a faft 

 worthy of attention, that as general, fo abflrafted, ideas 

 are formed by the fole agency of language, and would not 

 have exilled in the flightefl degree, if words had not pre- 

 vioufly been applied to exprefs the qualities oi things. For 

 as foon as a property was marked by an appropriate word, 

 the feparate and independent exiilence of tliat word, recog- 

 nized by the eye or by the ear, induced the mind, without 

 an effort and, perhaps imperceptibly, to give the property 

 fo defignatedan independent exiilence alfo. Mr. Tooke re- 

 jefts tlie principle of abfiraftlon, and would introduce in the 

 room of it what he calhfiduuidition. Tiius, according to him, 

 goodnefs is that which is good \ frying is that which flies : and 

 under this erroneous and circuitous mode of explaining ab- 

 ftraft qualities which he has borrowed from the neuter parti- 

 ciple in Latin, he has attempted to bury out of fight the ope- 

 ration of the mind in forming abllraft ideas. The exiflence 

 of this operation, however, is too obvious to be denied with 

 efftft, and too important, in philofophical grammar, to be 

 abandoned on the authority of any perfou whofe acutenefs of 

 intcllcft may enable him fometimes rather t) perpL-x than to 

 unravel truth. In conformity to his own theory, Mr. Tooke 

 fuppofcs fuch words as_/i-it-«<:f, dUigetice, which are abflraft nouns, 

 derived from the l^aUn fcientia, diligen.'ia, to be neuter parti- 

 ciples plural in etitia, a luppofition contrary to the ana- 

 logy of the Latin tongue, which affords not a fingle iu- 

 flance of plural adjcftives being converted into abflrait 

 nouns. 



We cannot help noticing in this place an obfcrvation 

 in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 13 i " As all the objefts 

 which exill muft be either in the fume flate in whicli they 

 «'erc produced by nature, or changed from their original- 

 ftatc by art, cm- abflrailed from uibflanees by the powers 

 of imagination, and conceived by the mind, as having at 

 leaft the capacity of being charaderized by qualities ; this 

 naturally fuggelts a divifion of neuns into natural, as iran, 

 "vegelnlle, tree, &e. ; arlijicial, as houfe, Jiip, ivaich, SiC. ; 

 and ahjlratl, as ivhit^nefs, motion, temperance, &c." This di- 

 vifion lias been borrowed from Mr. Harris, in Ills Hermes, 

 andiiorrowed without confideration. 1^ bflraft ideas are the, 

 chief materials of fclence, which, giving birth to arc, ex-, 

 tended to the produftions of art, as its genuine oflspring, 

 the ule of its own terms. Accordingly, all artificial terms arc 



abllraft 



