In every explanation
which he can give to its use they detect ambiguity. They insist
that in any proper use of the term the idea of power must be
connoted. But what meaning is here attached to the word power, and
how shall we first reduce it to a sensible form, and then apply
its meaning to the operations of nature? Whether this can be done,
I do not inquire. All I maintain is that if we wish to do it, we
must pass without the domain of scientific statement.
Perhaps the greatest advantage in the use of symbolic and other
mathematical language in scientific investigation is that it
cannot possibly be made to connote anything except what the
speaker means. It adheres to the subject matter of discourse with
a tenacity which no criticism can overcome. In consequence,
whenever a science is reduced to a mathematical form its
conclusions are no longer the subject of philosophical attack. To
secure the same desirable quality in all other scientific language
it is necessary to give it, so far as possible, the same
simplicity of signification which attaches to mathematical
symbols. This is not easy, because we are obliged to use words of
ordinary language, and it is impossible to divest them of whatever
they may connote to ordinary hearers.
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