THE following pages, some of which were written as long ago as 1910, have appeared for the most part in periodical form during 1920-22, and arise out of an attempt to deal directly with difficulties raised by the influence of Language upon Thought. It is claimed that in the science of Symbolism, ¹ the study of that influence, a new avenue of approach to traditional problems hitherto regarded as reserved for the philosopher and the metaphysician, has been found. And further that such an investigation of these problems is in accordance with the methods of the special sciences whose contributions have enabled the new study to be 1 The word Symbolism has certain historical associations through the various dictionary meanings of'symbol,'which are worth noting. In addition to its constant underlying sense of a sign or token (something'put together') the term has already enjoyed two distinct floruits. The first, traceable to Cyprian, applies to the Creed regarded as the'sign'of a Christian as distinguished from a heathen, as when Henry VIII talks about'the three Creeds or Symbols.'A mythological perversion of the derivation (1450-1550, Myrr. our Ladye III, 312) sates that" Thys crede ys called Simbolum, that ys to say a gatherynge of morselles, for eche of the xii. apostles put therto a morsel." Other historical details will be found in Schlesinger's Geschichte des Symbols 1923).