example, will have to be
devoid of mnemic effects, and therefore of meaning. In practice, this is
not the case: such words have VERBAL associations, the learning of which
constitutes the study of metaphysics.

The meaning of a word, unlike that of an image, is wholly constituted
by mnemic causal laws, and not in any degree by likeness (except in
exceptional cases). The word "dog" bears no resemblance to a dog, but
its effects, like those of an image of a dog, resemble the effects of an
actual dog in certain respects. It is much easier to say definitely
what a word means than what an image means, since words, however they
originated, have been framed in later times for the purpose of having
meaning, and men have been engaged for ages in giving increased
precision to the meanings of words. But although it is easier to
say what a word means than what an image means, the relation which
constitutes meaning is much the same in both cases. A word, like an
image, has the same associations as its meaning has. In addition to
other associations, it is associated with images of its meaning, so that
the word tends to call up the image and the image tends to call up the
word., But this association is not essential to the intelligent use of
words. If a word has the right associations with other objects, we shall
be able to use it correctly, and understand its use by others, even if
it evokes no image. The theoretical understanding of words involves only
the power of associating them correctly with other words; the practical
understanding involves associations with other bodily movements.

The use of words is, of course, primarily social, for the purpose of
suggesting to others ideas which we entertain or at least wish them to
entertain. But the aspect of words that specially concerns us is their
power of promoting our own thought. Almost all higher intellectual
activity is a matter of words, to the nearly total exclusion of
everything else. The advantages of words for purposes of thought are so
great that I should never end if I were to enumerate them. But a few of
them deserve to be mentioned.

In the first place, there is no difficulty in producing a word, whereas
an image cannot always be brought into existence at will, and when it
comes it often contains much irrelevant detail. In the second place,
much of our thinking is concerned with abstract matters which do not
readily lend themselves to imagery, and are apt to be falsely c