nexions: first, that which subsisteth among things; second
ly, that which subsisteth between words and things; thirdly,
that which subsisteth among words, or the different terms
used in the same language.

As to the first of these connexions, namely, that which sub-
sisteth among things, it is evident that this is original and
natural. There is a variety of relations to be found in things
by which they are connected. Such are, among several oth-
ers, resemblance, identity, ^* equality, contrariety, cause and
effect, concamitancy, vicinity in time or place. These we
become acquainted with by experience; and they prove, by
means of association, the source of various combinations of
ideas and abstractions, as they are commonly denominated
Hence mixed modes and distinctions into genera and species,
of the orign of which I have had occasion to speak already. ^†

As to the second connexion, or that which subsisteth be-
tween words and things, it is obvious, as hath been hinted
formerly, that this is not a natural and necessary, but an ar-
tificial and arbitrary connexion. Nevertheless, though this
connexion hath not its foundation in the nature of things, but
in the inventions of men, its effect upon the mind is much
the same; for, having often had occasion to observe partic-
ular words used as signs of particular things, we hence con-
tract a habit of associating the sign with the thing signified,
insomuch that either being presented to the mind frequently
introduces or occasions the apprehension of the other. Cus
tom, in this instance, operates precisely in the same mannet
as in the formation of experience formerly explained. Thus,
certain sounds, and the ideas of things not naturally related
to them, come to be as strongly linked in our conceptions as
the ideas of things naturally related to one another.

As to the third connexion, or that which subsisteth among
words, I would not be understood to mean any connexion
among the words considered as sounds, such as that which
results from resemblance in pronunciation, equality in the
number of syllables, sameness of measure or cadence; I
mean solely that connexion or relation which comes grad.
ually to subsist among the different words of a language, in
the minds of those who speak it, and which is merely conse-
quent on this, that those words are employed as signs of
connected or related things. It is an axiom in geometry,
that things equal to the same thing are equal to one anoth-

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