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Two short chapters must now be presented which will be found rather dry, but they must be mastered if the subsequent chapters are to be understood. The principles therein stated are the A, B, C, of the work—the multiplication table of our logic. I beg of my reader not to be deterred from their careful consideration by reason of their simplicity.

The universe is a concourse of related bodies composed of related particles. Every relation must exist between two or more particles or bodies, and every particle or body is related to every other particle or body directly or indirectly. The universe is a hierarchy of bodies, and thus there is a hierarchy of relations. A relation cannot exist independent of terms. We may consider a relation abstractly, but it cannot exist abstractly. To affirm a relation the terms must be implied. When an abstract is reified, that is, supposed to exist by itself independent of other essentials, and the illusion is entertained that there is something independent of the essentials which support them, a mythology is created so subtle as to simulate reality. So when relations are reined and supposed to exist independent of terms, the mind is astray in the realm of fallacies. When it is discovered that rest is only a relation, the mind is prone to believe that nothing exists but relation,