express what does not. We speak of _a hole_ in the paper. But we can
form no idea of _a hole_, separated from the surrounding substances.
Remove the parts of the paper till nothing is left, and then you may
look in vain for the hole. It is not there. It never was. In the same
way we use the words nothing, nobody, nonentity, vacuum, absence, space,
blank, annihilation, and oblivion. These are relative terms, to be
understood in reference to things which are known to exist. We must know
of _some_thing before we can talk of _no_thing, of an entity before we
can think of nonentity.

In a similar way we employ words to name actions, which are produced by
the changes of objects. We speak of a race, of a flight, of a sitting or
session, of a journey, of a ride, of a walk, of a residence, etc. In all
these cases, the mind is fixed on the persons who performed these
things. Take for example, a race. Of that, we can conceive no idea
separate from the agent or object which _ran_ the _race_. Without some
other word to inform us we could not decide whether a _horse_ race, a
_foot_ race, a boat race, the race of a mill, or some other race, was
the object of remark. The same may be said of flight, for we read of the
flight of birds, the flight of Mahommed, the flight of armies, and the
flight of intellect.

We also give names to actions as tho they were taking place in the
present tense. "The _reading_ of the report was deferred;" steamboat
_racing_ is dangerous to public safety; _stealing_ is a crime; false
_teaching_ deserves the reprobation of all.

The hints I have given will assist you in acquiring a knowledge of nouns
as used to express ideas in vocal or written language. This subject
might be pursued further with profit, if time would permit. As the time