That one can rightly call atoms infinitely small means that they are
to our senses immeasurable, and the word, as it here carries wonder,
may, like other conversational expletives, have an emotional force,
and can therefore be sometimes well used even where its exaggeration
is apparent. As when a man heightens some assertion with a 'damnable,'
he intends by the colour of his speech to warn you that his conviction
is profound, and that he is in no mood to listen to reason, so the
exaggeration of 'infinite' may have special value by giving emotional
colour to a sentence.
On the above principles there will be doubtful cases. For instance,
was Mr. Lloyd George justified the other day in saying, _If you cut
down expenditure to the lowest possible limit, the war debt would
still be so enormous that ... the expenditure for this country is
bound to be infinitely greater than before the war?--The Times_, Oct.
23.
THE AMERICAN INVITATION
The English reply to the American Invitation was despatched last
October. The text of it is as follows:
'To Professor Fred Newton Scott.
DEAR SIR,
We thank you heartily for the letter addressed to us by Professors
James Wilson Bright, Albert Stanburrough Cook, Charles Hall Grandgent,
Robert Underwood Johnson, John Livingston Lowes, John Matthews Manly,
Charles Grosvenor Osgood, and yourself.
We regret that so long a time should have passed before our joint
reply could be despatched: but our intentions have in the meanwhile
been privately made known to you.
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