Nouns are also used to express negation, of which no idea can be formed.  In this case, the mind rests on what exists, and employs a word to express what does not.  We speak of a hole in the paper.  But we can form no idea of a hole, separated from the surrounding substances.  Remove the parts of the paper till nothing is left, and then you may look in vain for the hole.  It is not there.  It never was.  In the same way we use the words nothing, nobody, nonentity, vacuum, absence, space, blank, annihilation, and oblivion.  These are relative terms, to be understood in reference to things which are known to exist.  We must know of something before we can talk of nothing, of an entity before we can think of nonentity.

In a similar way we employ words to name actions, which are produced by the changes of objects.  We speak of a race, of a flight, of a sitting or session, of a journey, of a ride, of a walk, of a residence, etc.  In all these cases, the mind is fixed on the persons who performed these things.  Take for example, a race.  Of that, we can conceive no idea separate from the agent or object which ran the race.  Without some other word to inform us we could not decide whether a horse race, a foot race, a boat race, the race of a mill, or some other race, was the object of remark.  The same may be said of flight, for we read of the flight of birds, the flight of Mahommed, the flight of armies, and the flight of intellect.

We also give names to actions as tho they were taking place in the present tense.  “The reading of the report was deferred;” steamboat racing is dangerous to public safety; stealing is a crime; false teaching deserves the reprobation of all.

The hints I have given will assist you in acquiring a knowledge of nouns as used to express ideas in vocal or written language.  This subject might be pursued further with profit, if time would permit.  As the time allotted to this lecture is nearly exhausted, I forbear.  I shall hereafter have occasion to show how a whole phrase may be used to name an idea, and as such stand as the agent or object of a verb.

Some nouns are specifically used to designate certain objects, and distinguish them from the class to which they usually belong.  In this way they assume a distinctive character, and are usually denominated =proper nouns=.  They apply to persons, places and things; as, John Smith, Boston, Hylax. Boy is applied in common to all young males of the human species, and as such is a common noun or name. John Smith designates a particular boy from the rest.

Proper names may be also applied to animals and things.  The stable keeper and stageman has a name for every horse he owns, to distinguish it from other horses; the dairyman for his cows, the boy for his dog, and the girl for her doll.  Any word, in fact, may become a proper name by being specifically used; as the ship Fair Trader, the brig Success, sloop Delight in Peace, the race horse Eclipse, Black Hawk, Round Nose, and Red Jacket.