g. if in defining
the essence of white one were to state the formula of white man; the
other because in the subject another determinant is combined with that
which is expressed in the formula, e.g. if 'cloak' meant 'white
man', and one were to define cloak as white; white man is white
indeed, but its essence is not to be white.
But is being-a-cloak an essence at all? Probably not. For the
essence is precisely what something is; but when an attribute is
asserted of a subject other than itself, the complex is not
precisely what some 'this' is, e.g. white man is not precisely what
some 'this' is, since thisness belongs only to substances. Therefore
there is an essence only of those things whose formula is a
definition. But we have a definition not where we have a word and a
formula identical in meaning (for in that case all formulae or sets of
words would be definitions; for there will be some name for any set of
words whatever, so that even the Iliad will be a definition), but
where there is a formula of something primary; and primary things
are those which do not imply the predication of one element in them of
another element. Nothing, then, which is not a species of a genus will
have an essence-only species will have it, for these are thought to
imply not merely that the subject participates in the attribute and
has it as an affection, or has it by accident; but for ever thing else
as well, if it has a name, there be a formula of its meaning-viz. that
this attribute belongs to this subject; or instead of a simple formula
we shall be able to give a more accurate one; but there will be no
definition nor essence.
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