be the arrangement, immediately on the utterance of the word “horse,” there arises, or tends to arise, in the mind, a picture answering to that word; and as there has, been nothing to indicate what kind of horse, any image of a horse suggests itself.  Very likely, however, the image will be that of a brown horse, brown horses being the most familiar.  The result is that when the word “black” is added, a check is given to the process of thought.  Either the picture of a brown horse already present to the imagination has to be suppressed, and the picture of a black one summoned in its place; or else, if the picture of a brown horse be yet unformed, the tendency to form it has to be stopped.  Whichever is the case, a certain amount of hindrance results.  But if, on the other hand, “a black horse” be the expression used, no such mistake can be made.  The word “black,” indicating an abstract quality, arouses no definite idea.  It simply prepares the mind for conceiving some object of that colour; and the attention is kept suspended until that object is known.  If, then, by the precedence of the adjective, the idea is conveyed without liability to error. whereas the precedence of the substantive is apt to produce a misconception, it follows that the one gives the mind less trouble than the other, and is therefore more forcible.

13.  Possibly it will be objected that the adjective and substantive come so close together, that practically they may be considered as uttered at the same moment; and that on hearing the phrase, “a horse black,” there is not time to imagine a wrongly-coloured horse before the word “black” follows to prevent it.  It must be owned that it is not easy to decide by introspection whether this is so or not.  But there are facts collaterally implying that it is not.  Our ability to anticipate the words yet unspoken is one of them If the ideas of the hearer kept considerably behind the, expressions of the speaker, as the objection assumes, he could hardly foresee the end of a sentence by the time it was half delivered:  yet this constantly happens.  Were the supposition true, the mind, instead of anticipating, would be continually falling more and more in arrear.  If the meanings of words are not realized as fast as the words are uttered, then the loss of time over each word must entail such an accumulation of delays as to leave a hearer entirely behind.  But whether the force of these replies be or be not admitted, it will scarcely be denied that the right formation of a picture will be facilitated by presenting its elements in the order in which they are wanted; even though the mind should do nothing until it has received them all.

14.  What is here said respecting the succession of the adjective and substantive is obviously applicable, by change of terms, to the adverb and verb.  And without further explanation, it will be manifest, that in the use of prepositions and other particles, most languages spontaneously conform with more or less completeness to this law.