§ 6. Primary meaning.—Primary retentiveness is correlated with what we may call primary meaning. We may sum up the result of the last section as follows : (1) In all processes having appetitive or cognitive continuity, and consisting of a series of distinct steps, a cumulative disposition is gradually formed which is the product of antecedent mental change, and a cooperative factor in succeeding mental change. (2) The aftereffect of preceding mental process is not reproduced, but simply persists or is retained. (3) Its persistence in no wayinvolves the persistence or the resuscitation of the specific items of sensation or mental imagery which have contributed to form it. These do not persist, but only their effects. If we denote the sequences of specific items of sense-experience, or, it may be, of ideal imagery, by a, b, c, d, then a, b, c, d, by no means adequately symbolises the process as a whole. For when b occurs, the resulting state of consciousness is the joint product of b and the persistent disposition or aftereffect left behind by a. Similarly, when d occurs, the resulting state of consciousness is due to d in cooperation with the persistent disposition left behind by a, b, and c. We may denote the aftereffect of a by m1, the aftereffect of a and b by m1, and so on. The whole series may then be represented by a, bm1, cm1, dm2.

Now what does m stand for? What change or modification of consciousness does it represent? Clearly, it represents the relation of the specific items b, c, d, to the whole of which they are part, a peculiar character which belongs to them in virtue of their being part of this whole. Now the only general word which is at all appropriate for expressing this hind of consciousness is the word meaning or significance; m, then, stands for meaning or significance. The meaning which is essentially involved in all cognitive continuity may be designated primary meaning, to distinguish it from that which depends on association and reproduction.