question were made definite. For the ground for debate lies in the
difference in interpretation of the question and not in the facts
themselves. For example: If a cannon ball were to be fired off by some
mechanical device a million miles from where there was any ear to
hear, would there be any sound? The lack of definiteness here which
permits difference of opinion lies in the word "sound." If we add
after the word "sound" the phrase, "in the sense of a conscious
auditory sensation," the answer would obviously be, No, since there
can be no auditory sensation without an ear to hear it. If, on the
other hand, instead of the above phrase we add, "in the sense of
wave-vibrations in the air," the answer will obviously be, Yes, since
the wave-vibrations in the air do not depend on the presence of an
ear to be affected by them.

Likewise, in the question, If a man starts to walk around a squirrel
which is clinging to the limb of a tree, and if, as the man circles
the tree, the squirrel also circles the tree so that he constantly
faces the man, when the man has gone completely around the tree, has
he gone around the squirrel? Here the indefiniteness lies in the
meaning of to "go around." With this indefiniteness remedied, there is
no longer any possibility of difference of opinion.

Indefiniteness may come from the use of certain words that from their
very nature are indefinite in meaning. Such are the verbs _be_, _do_,
_have_, _become_, _happen_, and the prepositions _of_ and _about_.
Examples of indefiniteness growing out of such colorless words are
found in the following questions, which are types of many asked in our
schools daily:--

What does water _do_ when heated? (Expands, evaporates,