of events, such as 'accession,' 'purchase,' 'manifestation.' Things and
events are known by their qualities and relations; and every such
aspect, being a point of resemblance to some other things, becomes a
ground of generalisation, and therefore a ground for the need and use of
general terms. Hence general terms are far the most important sort of
terms in Logic, since in them general propositions are expressed and,
moreover (with rare exceptions), all predicates are general. For,
besides these typical class-names, attributive words are general terms,
such as 'royal,' 'ruling,' 'woolly,' 'bleating,' 'impalpable,'
'vanishing.'

Infinitives may also be used as general terms, as '_To err is human_';
but for logical purposes they may have to be translated into equivalent
substantive forms, as _Foolish actions are characteristic of mankind_.
Abstract terms, too, are (as I observed) equivalent to general terms;
'folly' is abstract for 'foolish actions.' '_Honesty is the best
policy_' means _people who are honest may hope to find their account in
being so_; that is, in the effects of their honest actions, provided
they are wise in other ways, and no misfortunes attend them. The
abstract form is often much the more succinct and forcible, but for
logical treatment it needs to be interpreted in the general form.

By antonomasia proper names may become general terms, as if we say _'A
Johnson' would not have written such a book_--i.e., any man of his
genius for elaborate eloquence.

A Collective Term denotes a multitude of similar things considered as
forming one whole, as 'regiment,' 'flock,' 'nation': not distributively,
that is, not the similar things severally; to denote them we must say
'soldiers of the regiment,' 'sheep of the flock,' and so on. If in a