name.

class (or genus) of them, and call them all by the same It is then evident that we can abstract without generalising, but that we cannot generalise without abstracting.

COMMON NAMES.

It is upon this principle that are formed what are called common terms, or, in grammar, common nouns. In consequence of their agreeing in a certain number of particulars (or having certain qualities in common) a large class of objects received the same name. Thus, when we meet with a building constructed with walls, and having a roof to shelter its inmates from the inclemency of the weather, we call such a thing' a house,' without attending to the almost infinite variety which is well known to exist among such objects. For though we all know that no two houses agree in every particular, as long as they are found to agree in a certain number of circumstances, they will all be called by the same general term-house. Now, it is clear that this process of generalisation could not have been performed without the power of abstraction; for it is in consequence of abstracting, in each case, the same qualities from these objects, that we find them to agree in possessing such qualities.

PROPER NAMES.

Proper names, on the other hand, are applied, not to a class or number of objects agreeing in certain particulars, but to single individuals. Whenever I meet with a large stream of water flowing into a sea

or lake, I call such an object a 'river,' because it agrees in these particulars with a large class of things. But if I wish to designate that individual river which flows by London, and falls into the German Ocean, I must apply the term Thames. The use of this, and of all other proper names, is to distinguish an individual object from all others of its class.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SENSES.

Most words may be used in two, and some in three senses; but in all cases there is a connection between the first or primary meaning, and the secondary signification. These senses may be classed as primary (or concrete), and secondary (abstract, or metaphorical). Some English words, however, are not found. in a secondary sense, and others have only an abstract signification, having lost their original concrete sense. Lastly, some words are used in two senses, both concrete. For example, the word 'head,' in the expression my head aches,' is used in its original concrete sense. In the sentence, The boy is at the head of his class,' it has a secondary, abstract meaning; whereas, in the line, 'The mountain lifts his head above the storm,' it is applied in a metaphorical

sense.

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EXERCISE III.

Take out the words in italics in the following sentences, and explain in what sense they are respectively used.

He was moved to tears-The waters subsided—

There is a rise in the price of bread-The patient was too ill to be moved-The leaves were agitated by the wind-The mother kissed her child-'The wind did kiss the trees'-The master threatened to dismiss the apprentice-The clouds threaten rain-The army advanced into the heart of the country-My uncle was agitated at this news He was a steady boy -My cousin is quick at learning-This happened in the course of yesterday afternoon-He was eager in the pursuit of literature-The horse ran over the course-My brother is much advanced in his studies -He was killed in the pursuit of the French from Waterloo.

Many words are used in two senses, both concrete ; the one, however, derived from the other: for example,

In the first column, the words hand and foot are used in their primary sense; in the second, they are applied in a secondary, but yet a concrete, signification.

EXERCISE IV.

Use each of the following words in two senses, in separate sentences, similar to the examples above given.

Use the following words in two senses:-1st, a concrete, and 2nd, an abstract sense: for example,—

It may be useful and interesting to inquire into the cause of this secondary meaning of words,-how it happened that they acquired a new meaning distinct from their original sense, and yet, in a certain way, derived from it. The phenomenon may be thus explained. It depends upon, and may be attributed to, a principle called analogy. This term refers to a certain power of the mind, by which we

The word 'analogy' is derived from the Greek verb avaλéyw, 'I gather up, or consider together.' Analogy is the power of collecting and comparing relations.

compare ideas resembling each other, not in all, but only in some respects, or in the relation they bear to other ideas. When we use the word 'move,' in its original meaning, it signifies to cause some body to change its position; as when we say, 'the stone was moved.' But when we say that 'such a one was moved to tears by this news,' the meaning of the word is secondary. The change implied in the first sense does not, in the second, refer to external matter, but to internal feeling. There is here an analogy, or a comparison as regards circumstances. The power applied in the first case holds the same relation to the stone that the news received, in the second, holds to the person affected by it.

EXERCISE VI.

Explain in writing the analogies by which the words in the list under Exercise IV. came to be used in a secondary sense; somewhat in the following manner.

Example.

The word 'leg,' in its original and literal sense, signifies the limb which assists in sustaining the weight of the body. But this term is also applied, in a secondary sense, to those parts of mechanical contrivances which perform a similar office. Thus, we speak of the 'leg' of a chair, table, or stool; and in all these cases, the leg stands in the same relation to the chair, table, &c., as the leg of an animal does to its body.