Owen i —Interrogative Thought—Means of Its Expression . 361 
to tell you of my fear. A sentence by which I do so will not, 
however, express a fear itself, hut rather my idea of fear. 
To illustrate, compare! the sentences “Brown fears your dog”, 
“I do not fear him”, “I should dislike to fear him”, “I shall 
fear him”. In all of these the idea of fear may be distinguished 
from the emotion of fear, as clearly as the idea of the dog can be 
distinguished from the dog himself. It is plainly also the idea 
of fear, and not the emotion itself, that is expressed by what I 
say. When now I say, “I fear your dog”, I see no reason to sup^ 
pose that the meaning of the symbol “fear” has changed. The 
fact that, in the present illustration, I am actually afraid (while 
speaking) is no more a proof that I express the fear itself, than 
the fact that my teeth are at the same time aching, is a proof 
that the words “I fear your dog” express the tooth-ache.* 
Sentences express thoughts formed in a particular ivay. 
T'o illustrate, seeing the contractor, Mr. Brown, and also an 
Italian workman, and being curious to learn in what way, if 
any, they are in relation, I discover that their relation is that of 
employer to employee. My discovery I announce by the sentence 
“Brown employs an Italian.” 
In the thought which I thus express, the ideas named by 
“Brown” and “Italian” are preliminary data. What I express 
by “employs” is a resultant, to which I naturally accord a domi¬ 
nant importance. Given “Brown” and the “Italian,” I develop 
“employs.” They being my condition, this is my conclusion. 
“Employs” depicts the most important figure of my mental 
picture. 
I may, however, derive my mental stimulus from' a primary 
juxtaposition of “Brown” and “employs.” Thinking first of 
these two, I may institute a search of a different order. Perhaps 
from memory, perhaps from other sources, I find that the proper 
element to put with the given two is “Italian.” This element, 
unpleasantly missing at the: outset, sought with effort, found with 
satisfaction, is naturally of dominant importance. Brown and 
the relation of employer to employee are preliminary data. 
*The immediate vocal sequel of emotion, like that of sensation, is the 
purely reflex cry. But cries, although they very likely pointed the way 
to speech by suggesting the possibility of using sound as a means of 
stimulating another’s mental action, are not admitted to rank as 
strictly language, which implies intention. 
