angles. When this happens, he will later modify his first concept by
synthesising into it the newly discovered quality. Moreover, if certain
features supposed to be common are later found to be accidental, if, for
instance, a child's concept of the class fish includes the quality
_always living in water_, his meeting with a flying fish will not result
in an utterly new concept, but rather in a modification of the present
one. Thus the young child, who on seeing the Chinese diplomat, wished to
know where he had his laundry, was not without a class concept, although
that concept was imperfect in at least one respect.

=Concept and Term.=--A point often discussed in connection with
conception is whether a general notion can be formed without language.
By some it is argued that no concept could exist in the mind without the
name, or general term. It was seen, however, that our first perception
of any object becomes a sort of standard by which other similar
experiences are intercepted, and is, therefore, general in character.
From this it is evident that a rudimentary type of conception exists
prior to language. In the case of the young child, as he gains a mental
image of his father, the experience evidently serves as a centre for
interpreting other similar individuals. We may notice that as soon as he
gains control of language, other men are called by the term papa. This
does not imply an actual confusion in identity, but his use of the term
shows that the child interprets the new object through a crude concept
denoted by the word papa. It is more than probable, moreover, that this
crude concept developed as he became able to recognize his father, and
had been used in interpreting other men before he obtained the term,
papa. On the other hand, it is certain that the term, or class name, is
necessary to give the notion a definite place in consciousness.

FACTORS INVOLVED IN CONCEPT

It will appear from the foregoing that a concept presents the following
factors for consideration:

1. The essential quality or qualities found in the individual things,
and supposed to be abstracted sooner or later from the individuals.

2. The concept itself, the mental image or idea representative of the
abstracted quality; or the unification of a number of abstracted
qualities, when the general notion implies a synthesis of different
qualities.

3. The general term, or name.

4. The objects themselves, which the mind can organize in