THE MEANING OF WORDS: ANALYSED INTO WORDS AND UNVERBAL THINGS, AND UNVERBAL THINGS CLASSIFIED INTO INTELLECTIONS, BY A. B. JOHNSON, AUTHOR OF A "TREATISE ON BANKING," "RELIGION IN ITS RELATION TO THE Four ineradicable fallacies are concealed in the structure of language: it identifies what New York: D. APPLETON AND CO., 443 & 445 BROADWAY. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, BY A. B. JOHNSON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York то ALEXANDER S. JOHNSON, JUDGE OF THE COURT OF APPEALS, OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. MY DEAR SON, I believe your recollection can extend back to no period when we were not companions of each other, and I often query which of us is more indebted to the other for intellectual and moral benefits thereby received; but I usually adjudge myself to be the debtor. The topics of this book you have heard from me in every form in which my intellect can conceive them, hence I inscribe the book to you, not to communicate its contents, but to record the social relationship which has always existed between us. Of the merits of the work neither of us is in a good position to judge-I from self-love, and you from prepossessions towards me. It has, however, exerted a kindly influence over my leisure during a long life that has been marked with sorrows of no ordinary magnitude. It has, indeed, been to me like the poor man's lamb in the parable of the prophet. "It has grown up with me and my children, eaten of my meat, drunk of my own cup, lain in my bosom, and been unto me as a daughter." Praying you may possess a son to whom you may be able to transmit a memorial of social intercourse, like that recorded in this dedication, I remain yours most faithfully, UTICA, State of New York, 1854. THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. THE inventor of the "Rule of Three" deemed his object accomplished when he presented sufficient examples of his rule to elucidate its rationale and utility. I, also, have not communicated all the results which will follow from my analysis of language, but rather as few as will suffice to elucidate my doctrines, the materials for the elucidation being taken from any source that seemed to me best adapted to the purpose; and taken usually from. my memory irrespective of their merits or demerits for other purposes. Indeed many of the scientific tenets on which I comment are probably no longer authoritative, and my comments may misconceive those which are authoritative, and kindred errors may be numerous ; but if the reader shall collect from my comments the views of language that I entertain, he will collect all that I seek to accomplish, and I plead guilty in advance of all the scientific errors of which he may be able to convict me. Some paintings require to be examined at a distance, others need a near inspection or the merits of the picture cannot be ascertained. What distance of view is to paintings, rapidity of reading is to books. The following sheets are |