94 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters . 
Their alleviation 
That we can guess successfully is owing first of all to this, 
that in the main your repertory of ideas matches mine. As 
compared with those of Eskimo and Zulu, our experiences 
closely tally. My observations, analyzings, classifyings have 
arranged on my idea-shelves a stock that only negligibly differs 
from your own—an indispensable preliminary to all thought- 
communication, seemingly ignored by those who clamor for 
exchange of signals with our Martian neighbors. Thus 
equipped for thought-communication, and made skillful by 
long practice, we are guided by the common momentary situa¬ 
tion, context, inference, association, aspiration, tendency to 
figurative thinking—so far guided that we keep together in 
our thinking, though occasionally the intended meaning of a 
word or phrase be not exactly that with which we are familiar. 
Meaning-change has also some analogy with physical mo¬ 
mentum. I mean that, when the meaning of a word has made 
a series of advances all in one direction, the next advance will 
be expected in the same direction. This principle will later 
be applied to our conception of participants in action. In the 
meantime that conception may with some advantage be ex¬ 
tended. 
For a moment in particular I wish to go beyond the usual 
conception of an action as implying merely an associated actor 
and, it may be, an actee direct or indirect. By way of illus¬ 
tration let it be supposed that Brown has rightly aimed his 
duly loaded shotgun at a partridge. As his finger pulls, the 
bird comes down—occurrences which both are indicated by 
“He (the actor) shot (the action) the partridge (the actee).” 
Examining now with somewhat more than usual care, I real¬ 
ize that the effects of Brown’s activity are multiple. With ob¬ 
jects both direct and indirect, according to your point of view— 
with datives ethical or of advantage, disadvantage, interest— 
with every kind there is—my illustration will be found to be 
abundantly provided. (May I only make no, blunder as to 
which one ought to rank as which!) For obviously the 
