sitions may be useful to one who does not know the
language; and Definitions, which are verbal propositions whose
predicates analyse the whole connotations of their subjects, are
indispensable instruments of science (see chap. xxii.).

Of course, hypothetical propositions may also be verbal, as _If the soul
be material it is extended_; for 'extension' is connoted by 'matter';
and, therefore, the corresponding disjunctive is verbal--_Either the
soul is not material, or it is extended_. But a true divisional
disjunctive can never be verbal (chap. xxi. Sec. 4, rule 1).

On the other hand, when there is no such direct relation between subject
and predicate that their connotations imply one another, but the
predicate connotes something that cannot be learnt from the connotation
of the subject, there is no longer tautology, but an enlargement of
meaning--e.g., _Masters are degraded by their slaves; The horse is the
noblest animal; Red is the favourite colour of the British army; If the
soul is simple, it is indestructible_. Such propositions are called
Real, Synthetic, or Ampliative, because they are propositions for which
a mere understanding of their subjects would be no substitute, since the
predicate adds a meaning of its own concerning matter of fact.

To any one who understands the language, a verbal proposition can never
be an inference or conclusion from evidence; nor can a verbal
proposition ever furnish grounds for an inference, except as to the
meaning of words. The subject of real and verbal propositions will
inevitably recur in the chapters on Definition; but tautologies are such
common blemishes in composition, and such frequent pitfalls in argument,
that attention cannot be drawn to them too early or too often.

CHAPTER VI

CONDITIONS OF IMMEDIATE INFERENCE

Sec. 1. The word Inference is used in two different senses, which are often
confused but should be carefully distinguished. In the first sense, it
means a process of thought or reasoning by which the mind passes from
facts or statements presented, to some opinion or expectation. The data
may be very vague and slight, prompting no more than a guess or surmise;
as when we look up at the sky and form some expectation about the
weather, or from the trick of a man's face entertain some prejudice as
to his character. Or the data may be important and strongly significant,
like the footprint that frightened Crusoe into thinking of cannibals, or
as whe