§ 163. The other kind of singular terms, namely, designations (§ 113) are obviously connotative. We cannot employ even the simplest of them without conveying more or less information about the qualities of the thing which they are used to denote. When, for instance, we say 'this table,' 'this book,' we indicate the proximity to the speaker of the object in question. Other designations have a higher degree of intension, as when we say 'the present prime minister of England,' 'the honourable member who brought forward this motion to-night.' Such terms have a good deal of significance in themselves, apart from any knowledge we may happen to possess of the individuals they denote. § 164. We have seen that, speaking quite strictly, there are no terms which are non-connotative: but, for practical purposes, we may apply the expression to proper names, on the ground that they possess no intension, and to singular abstract terms on the ground that their extension and intension coincide. In the latter case it is indifferent whether we call the quantity extension or intension. Only we cannot call it 'connotation,' because that implies two quantities distinct from one another. A term must already denote a subject before it can be said to connote its attributes. § 165. The division of terms into connotative and non-connotative is based on their possession of one quantity or two. CHAPTER IV. _Of the Law of Inverse Variation of Extension and Intension._ § 166. In a series of terms which fall under one another, as the extension decreases, the intension increases, and vice versâ. Take for instance the following series-- Thing | Substance | Matter | Organism | Animal | Vertebrate | Mammal | Ruminant | Sheep | This sheep. Here the term at the top possesses the widest possible extension, since it applies to everything. But at the same time it possesses the least possible amount of intension, implying nothing more than mere existence, whether in fact or thought. On the other hand, the term at the bottom possesses the greatest amount of intension, since it implies all the attributes of, an individual superadded to those of the class to which it belongs: but its extension is the narrowest possible, being limited to one thing. § 167. At each step in the descent from the term at the top, which is called the 'Summum genus,' to the individual, we decrease the extension by increasing the intension. Thus by adding on to the bare notion of a thing the idea of independent existence, we descend to the term 'substance,' This process is known as Determination, or Specialisation. § 168. Again, by withdrawing our attention from the individual characteristics of a particular sheep, and fixing it upon those which are common to it with other animals of the same kind, we arrive at the common term, 'sheep.' Here we have increased the extension by decreasing the intension. This process is known as Generalisation.