The parts of a simultan4ous whole are presented to the mind by Description.

DESCRIPTION.
1. Describable Objects.
Complex objects only are capable of description. A simple object, as for instance the color blue, cannot be described. We may give instances of it, but one who had never seen any blue object could never learn froyi description what blue is. In order that anything may be capable of description, it must consist of parts which may be mentioned, and whose relations may be shown.
2. General Laws of Description.
There are some general qualities which every de¬scription should possess.
(1)	The Law of Purpose.—Whenever we describe anything, we do so with a definite end in view. Let the subject be the United States. We might describe the United States for a geographical purpose, to inform the mind how the parts of the country are related in direction and distance ; for an antiquarian purpose, to portray the condition of aboriginal tribes ; for a geo¬logical purpose, to illustrate the operation of physical forces ; for a political purpose, to demonstrate the ne¬cessity of national unity in so vast a country. Our selection of circumstances should be governed entirely by the purpose of the description.
(2)	The Law of Unity.—The mere enumeration of qualities is not sufficient for a perfect description. There must be coherence between the parts enumera¬ted, a mutual dependence and correlation. Hence the necessity of proceeding according to some definite plan.
(3)	The Law of Completeness.—It is necessary that nothing important to the purpose be left out of the list of qualities. It is not to be supposed that all the con¬stituents of an object must be mentioned: The pur¬pose regulates this. A description of the United States which should leave out the great rivers might be proper for some purposes, but for industrial pur¬poses such a description would be worthless.
(4)	The Law of Brevity.—The memory is soon overpowered by details. Hence a description should avoid all useless miuutite, and even leading character¬istics which are irrelevant to the purpose. Vivacity is gained by this elimination, and the attention is more easily retained.
3. kinds of Description.
It will be convenient to distinguish three kinds of description, which, from their peculiarities, should be treated separately. They are description of (1) OBJECTS OF SENSE; description of(2) MENTAL STATES ; description of(3) CHARACTERS.