CHAPTER II. 401 We may gie,e instances of each of these. Metaphysical ; as, a circle has a centre and circumference. 'Natural ; as, beasts have four feet. Moral ; as, negroes are stupid creatures. Collective ; as, the apples will fill a bushel. Distributive ; as, men are mortal. Note 2. There are many cases wherein a collective idea is expressed in a proposition by an indefinite term, and that where it describes the nature or quality of the subject, as well as when it declares some past matters of fact ; as, fir -trees set in good order willgive a charming prospect : this must signify a collection of fir - trees, for one makes no prospect. In matters of fact this is more evident and frequent ; as the Romans overcame the Gauls the robbers surrounded the coach : the wild geese flew over the Thames in the forni of a wedge. All these. are collective subjects. Note 3. In indefinite propositions the subject is often restrain. ed by the predicate, or by the special time, place, or circumstan- ces, as well as in propositions which are expressly universal ; as, the Chineses are ingenious silk-weavers ; that is, those Chineses who are silk- weavers are ingenious at their work. The stars appear to us when the twilight is gone ; this can signify no more than the stars which are above our horizon. Note 4. All these restrictions tend to reduce some indefinite propositions almost into particular, as will appear under the next remarks. III. Remarks concerning particular propositions. Note 1. A particular proposition may sometimes be expres- sed indefinitely, without any note of particularity prefixed to the subject ; as in times of confusion laws are not executed : men of virtue are disgraced, and murderers escape ; that is, some laws, some men of virtue, some murderers : unless we should call this language a moral universality, though I think it can hardly ex- tend so far. Note 2. The words some, a few, &c. though they generally denote a proper particularity, yet sometimes they express a col- lective idea ; as some of the enemies beset the general around : a few Greeks would beat a thousand Indians. I conclude this section with a few general remarks on this subject, namely, I. Since universal, indefinite and particular terms in the plural number. may either be taken in a collective or distributive sense, there is one short and easy way to find when they are col- lective and when distributive, namely, if the plural number may be changed into the singular, that is, if the predicate will agree to one single subject, it is a distributive idea, if not, it is collective. II. Universal and particular terms in the plural number ; such as, all, some, few, many, &c. when they are taken in their distributive sense, represent several single ideas ; and when they VOL. vii. C c
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