232 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters . 
ing motion; and obviously I may conceive this motion either 
with or without the attendant idea of direction toward myself. 
In the latter case, so far as my words be true to my mental 
operation, I simply must say (( Move the table nearer to my 
chair,” instead of saying—as, in the former case, would be re¬ 
quired—“ Bring 82 the table, etc.,” an expression which distinctly 
indicates direction toward myself. Again, it is plain that I 
may conceive your action as effected by your extensor muscles, 
or as effected by your flexors. Also I may neglect the opera¬ 
tion of your muscles altogether. Accordingly my motion-word 
is of necessity “push” or “pull” or neither, as the case may be. 
To illustrate more broadly still the linguistic axiom exempli¬ 
fied above, I note that, if linguistic effort shall succeed, I must 
say “horse” instead of “young gazelle” or “crocodile,” when 
thinking of the animal on which I take my daily ride. In short, 
the very existence of language implies that we use expressions 
for what we think, and not expressions for what we do not 
think—an axiom of which it is plainly a merely partial state¬ 
ment, to say that the presence or absence of personal belief in 
thought revealed determines the use of assertive or unassertive 
verbal forms. 
Obvious as it is, this principle is obscured by the tradition, 
commonly emphasized in grammars, that the subjunctive stands 
for what is untrue or doubtful, and the more or less distinctly 
formulated complementary tradition, that the indicative stands 
for what is true or certain. One’s confidence however in this 
apportionment of expressional tasks is somewhat shaken by the 
fact that, if I wish to falsify, I certainly shall use the indica¬ 
tive mode—the liar’s mode par excellence. Again, though 
merely a little short of confidence in what I say, ’twill be no 
innovation, if I play the mental bully, masking the substantial 
weakness of my proposition, not only by the formal boldness 
of assertion, but also by intensive adjunct, noisy speech or 
pulpitrthumping. 
To apply to these traditions a somewhat careful test, I note 
g 2 I use the word with no idea of lifting. 
