he object.' Thus a situation is an event which is a
relatum in the relation of situation. Now our first impression is that
at last we have come to the simple plain fact of where the object really
is; and that the vaguer relation which I call ingression should not be
muddled up with the relation of situation, as if including it as a
particular case. It seems so obvious that any object is in such and such
a position, and that it is influencing other events in a totally
different sense. Namely, in a sense an object is the character of the
event which is its situation, but it only influences the character of
other events. Accordingly the relations of situation and influencing are
not generally the same sort of relation, and should not be subsumed
under the same term 'ingression.' I believe that this notion is a
mistake, and that it is impossible to draw a clear distinction between
the two relations.

For example, Where was your toothache? You went to a dentist and pointed
out the tooth to him. He pronounced it perfectly sound, and cured you by
stopping another tooth. Which tooth was the situation of the toothache?
Again, a man has an arm amputated, and experiences sensations in the
hand which he has lost. The situation of the imaginary hand is in fact
merely thin air. You look into a mirror and see a fire. The flames that
you see are situated behind the mirror. Again at night you watch the
sky; if some of the stars had vanished from existence hours ago, you
would not be any the wiser. Even the situations of the planets differ
from those which science would assign to them.

Anyhow you are tempted to exclaim, the cook is in the kitchen. If you
mean her mind, I will not agree with you on the point; for I am only
talking of nature. Let us think only of her bodily presence. What do you
mean by this notion? We confine ourselves to typical manifestations of
it. You can see her, touch her, and hear her. But the examples which I
have given you show that the notions of the situations of what you see,
what you touch, and what you hear are not so sharply separated out as to
defy further questioning. You cannot cling to the idea that we have two
sets of experiences of nature, one of primary qualities which belong to
the objects perceived, and one of secondary qualities which are the
products of our mental excitements. All we know of nature is in the same
boat, to sink or swim together. The constructions of science are merely
exposition