250 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters . 
guistic case in hand is merely one of an often occurring atrophy 
—or, say, an arrest of development—• a losing, or a failing to 
develop, given expressional types. Thought of given content 
and given structure simply will not flow through a given lin¬ 
guistic outlet, when that outlet has never been opened, or when 
it has been closed. 
That clearness and brevity are not the only advantages which 
may determine the use of a particular verbal noun or adjec¬ 
tive, is obvious. Other advantages 92 however are so easy to 
appreciate, that any general examination of their influence 
may be omitted. 
More important is the settlement of the question, not till 
now approached, how far the advantages considered—thus far 
.assumed to be conscious—be after all subconscious, or even 
unconscious. 
In trying to discover this, I plan an illustration which shall 
serve, so far as possible, as a trap to catch the elusive cause of 
what, I think, will be found to be a conscious choice. Accord¬ 
ingly, ec Everybody with the compZefest confidence, expects. 
Let it be conceded that thus far, from never mind what 
causes, I have reached in mind the particular phraseology ade¬ 
quate to express my thought, although as yet I have not spoken. 
There now may rise before me, all together, as possible com¬ 
pletions of my sentence, three series of words, (1) “that he 
will come”, (2) “him to come”, (3) “his coming.” Let it 
be supposed that they do so. 
The italicized syllables of the illustration are those on which 
I foresaw in mind that I should lay in utterance a vocal stress. 
Accordingly, after the stress attending “.Everybody”, I was to 
be left with six, or even seven successive syllables, without a 
natural stress. Disliking this tongue-tangling—not to say ear- 
92 e. g., the agreeableness of individual consonant or vowel sound; 
the agreeableness of sound sequence; the rhythmic effect produced by 
syllabic accent; the fitness of either of these to ideas expressed (Com¬ 
pare the unfitness of a dancing rhythm to serious thought); the dignity 
or caste of the word (Compare “sweat” and “perspiration,” which more¬ 
over interchange prestige in passing from poetry to the parlor). 
