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Show lOf Names of mixed Modes. Book III. have as little union in themfe_lves, ~ fe~eral other , to which the Mind gives a connexion that combmes them mto ~ne. Idea ; ~et ~hey are~!ways made for the convenience of CommumcatJon, which IS the ch1ef end of Language. The Ufe of Language is, by !hort Sounds to iignifie with eafe anddifpatchgeneral ConceptiOns; wherem_noton!~· abundance of particulars may be contained, but alfo a great va:Iety of Independent Ideas co!leCled into one complex one. In the makmg therefore of the Speci~s of mixed Modes, Men hav~ had regard only to fuch Combinations, as they had occalion to mention one t_o another. Thofe _they have combined into di!l:inCl complex Jde.s, and g1ven names to; whii£1: others, that r • Nature have as near an union, ar~ left loofe and unregarded. For to J!!O no farther than humane AClions themfelves, if they would malte diftinll abfiraCl Idw, of all the Varieties might be obferv~d in them, the Number muft be infinite, and the Memory confounded With the Plenty as well as overcharged to little purpofe. It fullices, that Men make and name fo many complex Ueas of .thefe mix~d Modes, as they find they have occalion ·to have names for, 11;1 _the ordmary occurrence of their Affairs. If they join to the Idea of Killmg, the /Jea of hther, or Mother and fo make a diftintt Species from killing a Man's Son, or Neighbou; it is becaufe of the difiintt puni!hment , the one deferves different from' the other Murther · and therefore they find it necelfary to mention it by a difiintl: ~arne, which is the end of making that di!l:intl: Combina· tion. But though the Itl.eas of Mother and Daughter, ~r~ fo d1ffe:enrly treated in reference to the Idea ofK1lhng, that the one IS JOmed With It, to mak~ a difiinCl abftratt Idea with a name, and fo a dillinct Species, and the other not; yet in ref pea of carnal Knowledge! they are both ta· ken in under Inceff; and that frill for the fame convemence of exprefling under one name, .and reckoning of one Species, fuch unclean mixtures, as have a peculiar turpitude beyond others; and this to avoid Circumlocu· tions, and tedious Defcriptions. . ~- 8. A moderate skill in different Languages, will ealily fatisfie one of the truth of this, it being foobvious to obferve great fiore of Words in o.Language, which have not any that anfwer them in another. Wluch plam· Iy !hews, that thofe of one Country, by their Cu!l:oms and manner of Life have found occalion to make feveral complex Ideas, and gwe namos to them, which others never colleCled into fpecifick Ideas. This could not have happened, if thefe Species were the fteady Workmanllup of~·ture · and not ColleClions made and abfiratted by the Mind, in order to nam~g, and for the convenience of Communication. The terms of our Law, which are not empty Sounds, will hardly find Words that anfwer them in theSpanilh, or Italian, no fcanty Languages; much lefs, 1 tlunk, ceuld any one tranflate them into the Caribee, or Wej}oe Tongues: And the Verfura oi).the Romans, or Corban of the Jews, have no Words in other Languages to anfwer them : The reafon whereof is plain , from what has been faid. Nay, if we will look a little more nearly mto th15 matter, and exaClly compare different Languages , we !hall find, that .though they have Words, which in Tranflations and Ditl:ionanes, are fuppofed to anfwer one another ; yet there is fcarce one of ten, among£1: the names of complex Ueas, efpecially of mixed Modes, that fia~ds for the fame precife Uea; which the Word does that in Dictionaries It IS ren· dred by. There are no Uear more common, and lefs compounded, than the Meafurcs of Time, Exteolion, and Weight, and the Lann names Hora, Pes, Libra, are, witheut difficulty, rendred by the Eng,lijh names, Hour, Ftot, and Po•nd: But yet there is nothing more evident, than that the Cfi:Jp. V. Names ,o( mixed Modes. the !dear a Roman annexed to thefe Latin Names, were very far different from thofe which an Eng,li{b-man exprefles by thofe Englifh ones. And if either of thcfe fl1ould make ufe of the meafures, that thofe of the other Language defign'd by their names, he would be quite out in his account. Thefe are too fenfible proofno be doubted ; and we fhall find this much more fo, in the names _of more ab!l:ract and compounded ideas; fuch as ue the greatefi part of thofe which make up Moral Difcourfes: whofe Names, when Men come curioufly to compare, with th9fe they are tranflated into, in other Languages, they will find very few of them exactly to cor ref pond in the whole extent of their Significations. ~- 9· The reafon why I take fo particular notice of this, is, that we may not be m1fiaken about Genera, and Specte>, and EJ[ences , as if they were Things regularly and conflantly made by Nature, and had a real Exi!l:ence in Things 1 when they appear, upon a more wary furvcy, to be nothing elfe but an Art!lic~ of the Under!l:andmg, for the eafier fignify. ing fuch Colle-ctions of Ideas, as it !hould often have occafion to communicate by one general term ; under which, divers particulars, as far forth as they agreed to that ab!l:ract Jd,a, might be comprehended. And if the doubtful iignification of the word Species, may make it found har!h to fame, that I fay, that the Species of mixed Modes are made by the Underflanding ; yet , I think, it can by no body be denied, that 'tis the Mind makes thofe abflra~ complex Ideas, to which fpecifick names are given. And if it be true, as it is, that the Mind makes thefe Patterns, forforting and naming of Things, I leave it to be confidered, who makes the Boundaries of the Sort, or Species; Iince with me, Species and Sort have no other difference, than that of a Latin and Englifl1 Idiom. . ~- 10. /be near relation that there is between Species , Ejfences, and their general Names, :it leafi ill mixed Modes, will farther appear, when we confider, that it is the Name that fcems to preferve thofe E(fences, and give them their la!l:ing duration. For the connexion between the loofe parts of thofe complex Ideas, being made by the Mind, this union, which has no particular foundation in Nature, would ceafe again, were there not fomething that did, as it were, hold it together, and keep the parts from fcattering. Though therefore it be the Mind tha< mak_es the Collection, 'tis the Name which is, as it were, the Knot, that tics them fait tQgether. What a vafl: variety of different Ideas, docs the word Triumphus hold together,and deliver to us as oneSpecies! Had this Name been never !'rude, or quite loft, we might, no doubt, have had detCripti· ons of what paffed in that Solemnity: but yet, I think, rhat which holds thofe different parts together, in the unity of one comp)ex fdea, is that very word annexed to it: without whicl1, the feveral parts of that, would ~o more be thou"ht to make one thing , than any other fl1ew, whkh having never bee~ made but once, had never been united into one complex Idea, under one denomination. How much therefore , in mixed Modes, the Unity necelfary to any Effence, depend~ on the Mmd ; and ltow much the continuation and fixing of that Umty, depends on the "Na!l'le in common ufe annexed to it, I leave to be confidered by thofc Who look upon Ejfences and Species, as . real e!l:abliflied Things in Nature. 9. r r. Suitable to this, we find, that /11e11 fpeailiKg of mixed Modes, ftltlom imag,ine or take any otber for Speoies of them, b•t jN<h as are Jet out /,y Name~: Becaufe they being of Man's making only, in order to n,.. ming, no fuch Species are taken notice of, or fuppofed to. be, unlefs a Name be joined to it, as the li{;;n of Man's having combmed mto one · ltleli 20) |