Logically, the contrast is inconsiderable. A noun denotes an object of which either the senses or the intellect can take cognizance, and a verb does no more. _To move_=_motion_, _to rise_=_rising_, _to err_=_error_, _to forgive_=_forgiveness_. The only difference between the two parts of speech is this, that, whereas a noun may express any object whatever, verbs can only express those objects which consist in an action. And it is this superadded idea of action that superadds to the verb the phenomena of tense, mood, person, and voice; in other words, the phenomena of conjugation. s. 343. A noun is a word capable of declension only. A {290} verb is a word capable of declension and conjugation also. The fact of verbs being declined as well as conjugated must be remembered. The participle has the declension of a noun adjective, the infinite mood the declension of a noun substantive. Gerunds and supines, in languages where they occur, are only names for certain cases of the verb. Although in all languages the verb is equally capable of declension, it is not equally declined. The Greeks, for instance, used forms like [Greek: to phthonein]=_invidia_. [Greek: tou phthonein]=_invidiae_. [Greek: en toi phthonein]=_in invidia_. oftener than the Romans. The fact of there being an article in Greek may account for this. s. 344. Returning, however, to the illustration of the substantival character of the so-called infinitive mood, we may easily see-- [alpha]. The name of any action may be used without any mention of the agent. Thus, we may speak of the simple fact of _walking_ or _moving_, independently of any specification of the _walker_ or _mover_. [beta]. That, when actions are spoken of thus indefinitely, the idea of either person or number has no place in the conception; from which it follows that the so-called infinitive mood must be at once impersonal, and without the distinction of singular, dual, and plural. [gamma]. That, nevertheless, the ideas of time and relation in space _have_ place in the conception. We can think of a person being _in the act of striking a blow_, of his _having been in the act of striking a blow_, or of his _being about to be in the act of striking a blow_. We can also think of a person being _in the act of doing a good action_, or of his being _from the act of doing a good action_. This has been written to show that verbs of languages in general are as naturally declinable as nouns. What follows will show that the verbs of the Gothic languages in particular were actually declined, and that fragments of this declension remain in the present English. s. 345. The inflection of the verb in its impersonal (or {291} infinitive form) consisted, in full, of three cases, a nominative (or accusative), a dative, and a genitive. The genitive is put last, because its occurrence in the Gothic language is the least constant. In Anglo-Saxon the nominative (or accusative) ended in -an: