letters--_b-u-d_. Are these letters, taken separately, signs to you of
anything?

+P.--+Yes, they are signs to me of the three sounds that I have just heard.

+T.--+What then do these letters, taken separately, picture to your eye?

+P.--+They picture the sounds that came to my ear.

+T+.--Letters then are the signs of what?

+P.--Letters are the signs of sounds+.

+T+.--I will pronounce the same three sounds more rapidly, uniting them
more closely--_bud_. These sounds, so united, form a spoken word. Of what
do you think when you hear the word _bud_?

+P+.--I think of a little round thing that grows to be a leafy branch or a
flower.

+T+.--Did you see the thing when you were thinking of it?

+P+.--No.

+T+.--Then you must have had a picture of it in your mind. We call this
+mental picture+ an +idea+. What called up this idea?

+P+.--It was called up by the word _bud_, which I heard.

+T+.--A _spoken word_ then is the sign of what?