Expression of Thought. 
5 
of head and residuum — or of tail and what is left. For sev¬ 
eral reasons I elect the analysis into head, thorax and abdo¬ 
men. I prefer something analogous with judgments, reaching 
results as follows. Let “6 exceeds 4” serve as illustration. 
The mental process registered is this: I have passed in mind 
from 6 to 4. In so doing I have become aware of something 
foreign to 6 and foreign to 4, namely superiority. The judg¬ 
ment expressed consists then of three terms: a first term (6), a 
last term (4) and the relation between them, which may also be 
known as mid-term. 1 
It should be noted that the relation may take on either of two 
aspects according to the direction of the thought-transit. Thus, 
if I think from 6 to 4, I obtain superiority. But, if I think 
from 4 to 6, I obtain inferiority. Viewed from the stand-point 
of superiority, inferiority is in this case a reverse relation. 
Conversely, superiority may be known as proverse. The names 
progressive and regressive are also in use. 
When now the judgment consists of merely a relation and the 
terms between which the relation obtains, I call the judgment 
elementary, minimal or essential. 
The judgment may, of course, be amplified. All admit that 
amplification must follow the method of the original structure. 
That is, if I add to my essential judgment, the new must be in 
relation with the old or with one of its parts. Were the new 
not so in relation, it would be out of relation or irrelevant. That 
is, the new would, so to speak, have nothing to do with the old. 
In practice the relation of old and new is often unexpressed. 
When I amplify “man” into “white man,” you do not require 
me to say that the relation between “ man ” and “ whiteness ” 
is that of object to its quality. 
1 However any of these elements be emphasized or overlooked, it is hard 
to believe that any one can ever be absent from a thought deemed worthy of 
expression. I have elected the names applied to them, because “first term ” 
and “ last term ” are broader and also less confused with other names than 
subject and predicate (also object) and because the name of “ mid-term ” 
is a constant reminder to keep track of the often neglected relation. 
It is easy to show further that this relation is in my example conceived 
as real (not this time unreal) and that this reality I believe. But these 
matters being unnecessary to the present investigation, I neglect them. 
