Now one important lesson which I wish to
inculcate is that the language of science in this respect
corresponds to that of business; in that each and every term that
is employed has a meaning as well defined as the subject of
discussion can admit of. It will be an instructive exercise to
inquire what this peculiarity of scientific and business language
is. It can be shown that a certain requirement should be fulfilled
by all language intended for the discovery of truth, which is
fulfilled only by the two classes of language which I have
described. It is one of the most common errors of discourse to
assume that any common expression which we may use always conveys
an idea, no matter what the subject of discourse. The true state
of the case can, perhaps, best be seen by beginning at the
foundation of things and examining under what conditions language
can really convey ideas.
Suppose thrown among us a person of well-developed intellect, but
unacquainted with a single language or word that we use. It is
absolutely useless to talk to him, because nothing that we say
conveys any meaning to his mind. We can supply him no dictionary,
because by hypothesis he knows no language to which we have
access.
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