21. And can hardly be made known otherwise.
Now these leading qualities are best made known by showing, and
can hardly be made known otherwise. For the shape of a horse or cassowary will be but rudely and imperfectly
imprinted on the mind by words; the sight of the animals doth it a thousand times better. And the idea of the
particular colour of gold is not to be got by any description of it, but only by the frequent exercise of the eyes
about it; as is evident in those who are used to this metal, who will frequently distinguish true from counterfeit,
pure from adulterate, by the sight, where others (who have as good eyes, but yet by use have not got the precise
nice idea of that peculiar yellow) shall not perceive any difference. The like may be said of those other simple
ideas, peculiar in their kind to any substance; for which precise ideas there are no peculiar names. The particular
ringing sound there is in gold, distinct from the sound of other bodies, has no particular name annexed to it, no
more than the particular yellow that belongs to that metal.
