A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century A.D. v2.c35.107

v2.c35.107

From repeated observation of similar groupings, one is led to conclude that Path is the invariable concomitant of the action ‘reading’, because the disappearance of the former (the other element remaining) leads to the disappearance of the latter (a rough Method of Difference by subtraction—हीयते) ; that Pach is the invariable concomitant of the action ‘cooking’ because the introduction of Pach (with nothing else added) leads to the introduction of the action ‘cooking,’ (a rough Method of Difference by addition,—उपजायते) ; and that Ati, which is the only ‘common antecedent’ (अनयोः) is the invariable concomitant of ‘one agent’ which is the only common ‘consequent’ (अनयोः) In fact, the last should come first by the Method of Agreement, then the other two either by Residue, or by Joint Agreement in presence and absence (अनुयव्यतिरेकौ). So far all is plain sailing, though only very simple and very rough applications of the Methods are given. But—and this is the point—throughout the argument, it is assumed that one sound is the concomitant of one idea, in other words, there is no plurality of causes to vitiate the application of the Method of Agreement in the above example. And now the objection is advanced that this basal assumption is untrue. The same sound is not the concomitant of the same idea. Different words (sounds) may have the same meaning, and the same word (sound) may have different meanings. We cannot therefore by the Joint Method of Agreement (अन्वयव्यतिरेकौ) determine the meanings of words, or the separate functions of roots (stems) and inflections,—at least not so simply as is pretended above. Patanjali states this difficulty in the way of applying the Scientific Methods to the problems presented by Analytical Grammar, a difficulty arising from the plurality of causes, but does not state the solution. The solution, however, depends on the Method of Subtraction and Addition (Patanjali's हीयते and उपजायते). For it will be found by extensive observation that the number of meanings of which a word (sound) may be capable is limited. So also is the number of words (sounds) expressive of a given meaning. Hence, by the Method of Difference, etc., the causal relations of words and meanings may be determined. Patanjali thus establishes the doctrine of Prakriti and Pratyaya (roots and inflections), with their separate significance, which is of course a necessary postulate in the case of an inflectional language like Sanskrit. Isolating and Agglutinative languages offer less difficulty, whereas the difficulties are in some respects enhanced in the case of languages with a polysynthetic or incorporating (incapsulating) morphological structure.