to have borne the name, then, is this its
connotation? No one has ever thought so. And, at any rate, time and
place are only extrinsic determinations (suitable indeed to events like
the battle of Lodi, or to places themselves like London); whereas the
connotation of a general term, such as 'sheep,' consists of intrinsic
qualities. Hence, then, the scholastic doctrine 'that individuals have
no essence' (see chap. xxii. Sec. 9), and Hamilton's dictum 'that every
concept is inadequate to to the individual,' are justified.

General names, when used as proper names, lose their connotation, as
Euxine or Newfoundland.

Singular terms, other than Proper, have connotation; either in
themselves, like the singular pronouns 'he,' 'she,' 'it,' which are
general in their applicability, though singular in application; or,
derivatively, from the general names that combine to form them, as in
'the first Emperor of the French' or the 'Capital of the British
Empire.'

Sec. 3. Whether Abstract Terms have any connotation is another disputed
question. We have seen that they denote a quality or qualities of
something, and that is precisely what general terms connote: 'honesty'
denotes a quality of some men; 'honest' connotes the same quality,
whilst denoting the men who have it.

The denotation of abstract terms thus seems to exhaust their force or
meaning. It has been proposed, however, to regard them as connoting the
qualities they directly stand for, and not denoting anything; but surely
this is too violent. To denote something is the same as to be the name
of something (whether real or unreal), which every term must be. It is a
better proposal to regard their denotation and connotation as
coinciding; though open to the objection that 'connote' means 'to mark
along with' something else, and this plan leaves nothing else. Mill
thought that abstract terms are connotative when, besides denoting a
quality, they suggest a quality of that quality (as 'fault' implies
'hurtfulness'); but against this it may be urged that one quality cannot
bear another, since every qualification of a quality constitutes a
distinct quality in the total ('milk-whiteness' is distinct from
'whiteness,' _cf._ chap. iii. Sec. 4). After all, if it is the most
consistent plan, why not say that abstract, like proper, terms have no
connotation?

But if abstract terms must be made to connote something, should it not
be those things, indefinitely suggested, to which the