6), its subject and predicate are respectively the less and the greater in extent or denotation; and the premises are called after the peculiar terms they contain: the expressions 'major premise' and 'minor premise' have nothing to do with the order in which the premises are presented; though it is usual to place the major premise first.
(3) No term must be distributed in the conclusion unless it is distributed in the premises.
It is usual to give this as one of the General Canons of the Syllogism; but we have seen (chap.vi.Sec.

6) that it is of wider application.
Indeed, 'not to go beyond the evidence' belongs to the definition of formal proof.

A breech of this rule in a syllogism is the fallacy of Illicit Process of the Minor, or of the Major, according to which term has been unwarrantably distributed.

The following parasyllogism illicitly distributes both terms of the conclusion: All poets are pathetic; Some orators are not poets: .'.

No orators are pathetic.
(4) The Middle Term must be distributed at least once in the premises (in order to prove a conclusion in the given terms).
For the use of mediate evidence is to show the relation of terms that cannot be directly compared; this is only possible if the middle term furnishes the ground of comparison; and this (in Logic) requires that the whole denotation of the middle should be either included or excluded by one of the other terms; since if we only know that the other terms are related to _some_ of the middle, their respective relations may not be with the same part of it.
It is true that in what has been called the "numerically definite syllogism," an inference may be drawn, though our canon seems to be violated.