What  tlien  was  it  that  estopped  Mr.  John  S.  Mill
from  at  once  adopting  mathematics  as  logic,  in  lieu  of
trying  to  unite  the  scholastic  syllogism  with  the  Ba-
conian organon?  It  was  the  apparent  obstacle  pre-
sented by  "  Quality."  Mr.  Mill  thus  states  the  dif-
ficulty he  encountered :  "  These  truths,  though  af-
firmable  of  all  things  whatever,  of  course  apply  to
them  ONLY  in  respect  to  their  quantity  ;  "  and  further
down  he  says  :  "In  these  various  transformations  the
propositions  of  the  science  of  number  do  not  fulfil  the
functions  proper  to  all  propositions  forming  a  train  of
reasoning ;  "  viz.,  that  of  enabling  us  to  arrive  in  an
indirect  method  by  marks  at  each  of  the  properties
(qualities)  of  objects  as  we  cannot  directly  ascertain
(or  not  so  conveniently)  by  experiment."


THOUGHT.  257

The  fact,  however,  is,  that  if  any  of  the  objects  of
thought  be  more  than  the  rest  dependent  upon  mathe-
matics, its  axioms  and  rules,  in  order  to  become  think-
able, it  is  quality.  ISo  reasoning  can  take  place  with
regard  to  properties  and  qualities,  till  they  become
quantitative,  whether  they  become  so  directly,  indirectl}^,
or  arbitrarily.  Every  logician  is  bound  to  admit  this,
as  deducible  from  the  primary  definitions  of  the  rea-
soning process  itself.  It  is  therefore  of  the  quantity  of
quality,  the  quantity  oi  force  in  properties  or  qualities,
the  quantitative  ratios  of  the  lavjs  of  properties  and
qualities,  the  quantity  of  duration  in  titne  of  properties
and  qualities,  the  quantitative  dimensions  or  sjpace  oc-
cupied by  properties  and  qualities,  that  we  may  reason.
