ent suggested by the term is _that a house is red_.
By a parity of reasoning _a mad house_ should mean a _house that is mad_;
and provided that each word retain its _natural meaning_ and its _natural
accent_, such is the fact. Let a _house_ mean, as it often does, a
_family_. Then the phrase, _a mad house_, means that the _house_, _or
family_, _is mad_, just as a _red house_ means that the _house is red_.
Such, however, is not the current meaning of the word. Every one knows that
_a mad house_ means _a house for mad men_; in which case it is treated as a
compound word, and has a marked accent on the first syllable, just as
_L['i]mehouse_ has. Now, compared with the word _red house_, meaning a
house of a _red colour_, and compared with the words _mad house_, meaning a
_deranged family_, the word _m['a]dhouse_, in its common sense, expressed a
compound idea; as opposed to two ideas, or a double idea. The word _beef
steak_ is evidently a compound idea; but as there is no disparity of
accent, it is not a compound word. Its sense is compound. Its form is not
compound but double. This indicates the objection anticipated, which is
this: viz., that a definition, which would exclude such a word as _beef
steak_ from the list of compounds, is, for that very reason, exceptionable.
I answer to this, that the term in question is a compound idea, and not a
compound form; in other words, that it is a compound in logic, but not a
compound in etymology. Now etymology, taking cognisance of forms only, has
nothing to do with ideas, except so far as they influence forms.

Such is the commentary upon the words, _treating the combination as a
single term_; in other words, such the difference between a compound word
and two words. The rule, being repeated, stands (subject to exceptions
indicated above) thus:--_there is no true composition without either a
change of form or a change of accent_.

s. 360. As I wish to be clear upon this point, I shall illustrate the
statement by its application.

The term _tr['e]e-rose_ is often pronounced _tr['e]e r['o]se_; that is,
with the accent at _par_. It is compound in the one case; it is a pair of
words in the other.

The terms _mountain ash_ and _mountain height_ are generally (perhaps
always) pronounced with an equal accent on the syllables _mount-_ and
_ash_, _mount-_ and _height_, respectively. In this case the word
_mountain_ must be dealt with as an adjective, and the words considered as
two. Th