424 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters . 
Precedents for double assertion. 
Though frequent in form,* two assertions in substance are not ex¬ 
tremely common within the limits of a single sentence. One charge at 
a time is the rule for guns and for statements. Yet double assertion 
is distinctly recognizable in “I have a letter from my wife, who is in 
New York”, in which expression the relative clause is obviously pro¬ 
pounded by reason of its self-sufficient informational value, quite as 
certainly as the separate sentence “She is in New York.” But this 
asserted relative clause is not employed for the purpose of telling you 
what wife I mean. That is, it is not restrictive, or definitive—not on a 
par with the “who killed Lincoln” in “I wish you to tell me who killed 
Lincoln (or the person distinguished by killing Lincoln).” To parallel 
the interrogative expression, as interpreted, I must find a case in which 
the relative clause, asserted because informational, is also of a restrict¬ 
ive or definitive character. 
Such a case I think I find in the following illustration: “I want a 
book which you will find on the newel post.” This sentence is quite 
inadequate, if I stop with “book”; for what I want is far from being a 
book; it is the particular book distinguished by its being on the newel 
post. To this book I confine your thought by a description which iso¬ 
lates it from all others. I am sure then that my relative clause is re¬ 
strictive, descriptive or definitive. I feel also sure that it is asserted. I 
admit that on such occasions I commonly prefer, in my description, to 
draw upon what you already know—what I therefore do not need to as¬ 
sert. But in the present case I stipulate that you know nothing of the 
book’s location. It is natural therefore that I give you the missing 
knowledge and by the usual means—that is, by an assertion. I might 
no doubt rely on merely associating in your mind the idea of location 
with that of the book. I might accomplish this by the expression 
“Bring me the book on the newel post.” But so far as I know myself, 
I choose the usual course. As you don’t know where to find the book, 
1 declare outright that you will find it on the newel post, expecting you 
to use this newly given knowledge, to guide you to a particular book. 
That is, my asserted informational clause is at the same time distinctly 
restrictive. There being also an obvious assertion in “I want,” my 
illustration offers two assertions, one of which restricts an element of 
the other. The illustration therefore seems to me to countenance the 
precisely parallel assumption that, in “Who killed Lincoln?”, I assert a 
desire that you tell me a to me unknown person whom I assert to have 
killed Lincoln. 
♦Thus, given “I don’t believe that Brown is ill,” though indicative in 
form, the “is” has no indicative or assertive value. Otherwise I am in 
the embarrassing position of vouching for Brown’s illness in the very 
breath in which I deny my belief therein. 
