OBS. 4.—­In the ordinary business of life, it is generally desirable to express our meaning as briefly as possible; but legal phraseology is always full to the letter, and often redundant.  Hence a merchant will write, “Nov. 24, 1837,” or, “11 mo. 24th, 1837;” but a conveyancer will have it, “On the twenty-fourth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven;”—­or, perhaps, “On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.”  Accordingly we find that, in common daily use, all the names of the months, except March, May, June, and July, are abbreviated; thus, Jan., Feb., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.  And sometimes even the Arabic number of the year is made yet shorter; as ’37 for 1837; or 1835-6-7, for 1835, 1836, and 1837.  In like manner, in constructing tables of time, we sometimes denote the days of the week by the simple initials of their names; as, S. for Sunday, M. for Monday, &c.  But, for facility of abbreviation, the numerical names, whether of the months or of the days, are perhaps still more convenient.  For, if we please, we may put the simple Arabic figures for them; though it is better to add d. for day, and mo. for month:  as, 1 d., 2 d., 3 d., &c.;—­1 mo., 2 mo., 3 mo., &c.:—­or more compactly thus:  1d., 2d., 3d., &c.;—­1mo., 2mo., 3mo., &c.  But, take which mode of naming we will, our ordinary expression of these things should be in neither extreme, but should avoid alike too great brevity and too great prolixity; and, therefore, it is best to make it a general rule in our literary compositions, to use the full form of proper names for the months and days, and to denote the years by Arabic figures written in full.

OBS. 5.—­In considering the nature of words, I was once a little puzzled with a curious speculation, if I may not term it an important inquiry, concerning the principle of their identity.  We often speak of “the same words,” and of “different words;” but wherein does the sameness or the difference of words consist?  Not in their pronunciation; for the same word may be differently pronounced; as, p=at’ron or p=a’tron, m=at’ron or m=a’tron.  Not in their orthography; for the same word may be differently spelled; as, favour or favor, music or musick, connexion or connection.  Not in their form of presentation; for the same word may be either spoken or written; and speech and writing present what we call the same words, in two ways totally different.  Not in their meaning; for the same word may have different meanings, and different words may signify precisely the same thing.  This sameness of words, then, must consist in something which is to be reconciled with great diversity.  Yet every word is itself, and not an other:  and every word must necessarily have some property peculiar to itself, by which it may be easily distinguished