Note 60 — Chapter II · SPEECH.

We can see how little the real order of evolution resembles the theoretical order of the XVIII. century, evolved from pure reasoning: “The complex notions of substances were the first known, since they came from the senses, and must therefore have been the first to have names” (Condillac). “With regard to adjectives, the notion must have developed with exceeding difficulty, since every adjective is an abstract term, and abstraction is a painful, or unnatural operation” (J. J. Rousseau).