We may illustrate as follows. Deciduous is a universal attribute
of vine, and is at the same time of wider extent than vine; and of
fig, and is of wider extent than fig: but it is not wider than but
coextensive with the totality of the species. Then if you take the
middle which is proximate, it is a definition of deciduous. I say
that, because you will first reach a middle next the subject, and a
premiss asserting it of the whole subject, and after that a middle-the
coagulation of sap or something of the sort-proving the connexion of
the first middle with the major: but it is the coagulation of sap at
the junction of leaf-stalk and stem which defines deciduous.
If an explanation in formal terms of the inter-relation of cause and
effect is demanded, we shall offer the following. Let A be an
attribute of all B, and B of every species of D, but so that both A
and B are wider than their respective subjects. Then B will be a
universal attribute of each species of D (since I call such an
attribute universal even if it is not commensurate, and I call an
attribute primary universal if it is commensurate, not with each
species severally but with their totality), and it extends beyond each
of them taken separately.
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