No man should be a soldier who cannot count, and indeed he is hardly to be called a man.
But I am not speaking of these practical applications of arithmetic, for number, in my view, is rather to be regarded as a conductor to thought and being.

I will explain what I mean by the last expression:--Things sensible are of two kinds; the one class invite or stimulate the mind, while in the other the mind acquiesces.

Now the stimulating class are the things which suggest contrast and relation.

For example, suppose that I hold up to the eyes three fingers--a fore finger, a middle finger, a little finger--the sight equally recognizes all three fingers, but without number cannot further distinguish them.

Or again, suppose two objects to be relatively great and small, these ideas of greatness and smallness are supplied not by the sense, but by the mind.