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Formal Ontology in Information Systems Proceedings of
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 Formal Ontology
in Information Systems
Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012)

Edited by
Maureen Donnelly
Department of Philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo,
Buffalo, USA
and
Giancarlo Guizzardi
Department of Computer Science, Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES),
Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil
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 Formal Ontology in Information Systems v
M. Donnelly and G. Guizzardi (Eds.)
IOS Press, 2012
© 2012 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.

Preface
This volume collects articles presented at the 7th edition of the International Confe-
rence on Formal Ontologies in Information Systems (FOIS 2012). This edition of this
bi-annual conference was held in conjunction with with the 3rd edition of the Interna-
tional Conference on Biomedical Ontologies (ICBO 2012), in Graz, Austria.
We received 71 submissions from all continents, in particular, from authors affi-
liated with institutions in countries such as Algeria, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada,
China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Poland,
Russia, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thail-
and, United States and United Kingdom. All submissions were carefully reviewed by
the members of our international program committee. Based on the reviews, 24 articles
were chosen for presentation at the conference. Accepted submissions were organized
into 8 sessions: Ontologies and Bioinformatics; Ontologies of Physical Entities; Onto-
logical Aspects of Artifacts and Human Resources; Methodological Aspects of Onto-
logical Engineering; Ontology Evaluation; Ontology, Language and Social Relations;
Ontological Aspects of Time and Events; Aspects of Ontology Representation. The
wide range of topics addressed in these sessions demonstrates that formal ontology is
an active area of research which addresses problems ranging from theoretical questions
regarding the ontology of time to the applications in the sciences and engineering.
Ontologies and Bioinformatics: in the first paper in this session entitled Probability
assignments to dispositions in ontologies, Adrien Barton, Anita Burgun and Régis Du-
vauferrier investigate the probabilistic dimension of dispositions, with a particular in-
terest on Biomedical ontologies. The authors investigate the determination of which
kinds of dispositional entities (individuals, universals, both) a probability value can be
assigned to; in Maturation of Neuroscience Information Framework: An Ontology Dri-
ven Information System for Neuroscience, Fahim T. Imam and colleagues discuss the
Copyright © 2012. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

main ontology-based components of the Neuroscience Information Framework (NIF).

In the context of the NIF project, the ultimate end product is a semantic search engine
and knowledge discovery portal that provides federated access to a vast amount of
Neuroscience data and resources over the web. Finally, in Suggestions for Galaxy
Workflow Design Using Semantically Annotated Services, Alok Dhamanaskar and col-
leagues propose an extension of the Galaxy open-source web-based framework to assist
the user in the construction of Service-based Scientific Workflows. The work is based
on proposed extensions to the Ontology for Biomedical Investigations (OBI) which are
intended to provide a base for the semantic annotation of Web Services.
Ontologies of Physical Entities: in The Void in Hydro Ontology, Torsten Hahmann
and Boyan Brodaric extend the DOLCE foundational ontology to a logical theory
aimed at representing specific aspects of the physical containment of water studied in
hydrology. More specifically, they address the notion of void – empty spaces that can
be filled with water; in The mysterious appearance of objects, Emanuele Bottazzi, Ro-
berta Ferrario and Claudio Masolo present a constructivist approach to objects. This
approach aims at making explicit how objects can be constructed as from the outcome
of an apparatus, being it a measurement instrument or our perceptual system, discuss-
ing what are the ontological and representational problems faced by such an approach;
Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 vi

finally, in Towards Making Explicit the Ontological Commitment of a Database Sche-

ma on the Geological Domain, Alda Maria Ferreira Rosa da Silva and Maria Cláudia
Cavalcanti propose an approach which combines a set of reverse engineering tech-
niques and the use of a top-level ontology as a way of making explicit the ontological
commitment of a conceptual database schema. The proposal combines the OntoClean
methodology and the OntoUML meta-categorization in a set of methodological guide-
lines aimed at producing higher-quality models to support tasks of interoperability and
database integration.
Ontological Aspects of Artifacts and Human Resources: In the paper entitled An
Ontology for Skill and Competency Management, Maryam Fazel-Zarandi and Mark S.
Fox present a formal PSL-based ontology for representing, inferring, and validating
skills and competencies of Human Resources in a dynamic environment; in Towards A
Unified Definition of Function, Riichiro Mizoguchi, Yoshinobu Kitamura and Stefano
Borgo build on an existing ontological definition of Artifact Functions, generalizing
this notion to provide a general unified definition of functions aimed at characterizing
both Biological Organisms and Technical Artifacts. Finally, in Preliminaries to a for-
mal ontology of failure of engineering artifacts, Luca Del Frate advances a conceptual
analysis of the notion of failure in engineering. The paper propose three different no-
tion of failures which are intended to capture practitioners’ intuitions and are advocated
as an important step towards the definition of a formal ontology of failure.
Methodological Aspects in Ontology Engineering: In the paper entitled A method
for re-engineering a thesaurus into an ontology, Daniel Kless and colleagues present a
general method for re-engineering a standard-compliant thesaurus into an ontology by
making use of top-level ontologies; In Ontology Content “At A Glance”, Gökhan
Coskun, Mario Rothe and Adrian Paschke present a technique to group concepts for
ontology documentation by applying community detection algorithms on the graph
structure of ontologies. Finally, we have in this session Interactive Semantic Feedback
for Intuitive Ontology Authoring by Ronald Denaux and colleagues. Their proposal
aims at increasing the eƥciency and eơectiveness of the ontology authoring process by
providing interactive, semantic feedback that helps ontology authors to consider rele-
vant logical consequences of their modeling inputs.
Ontology Evaluation: in Does your ontology make a (sense) difference?, Pawel
Copyright © 2012. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Garbacz proposes three logical criteria that an Applied Ontology need to satisfy in or-
der to suitably achieve the task of satisfactorily characterize its terminology. These
logical criteria correlate to graded levels of semantic indeterminacy. In sequence, we
have two papers by A. Patrice Seyed. In the first of these papers, entitled A Method for
Evaluating Ontologies Introducing the BFO-Rigidity Decision Tree Wizard, the author
proposes an integration of OntoClean’s notion of Rigidity with the BFO theory of types
to provide a tool-supported decision tree procedure for evaluating ontologies. Moreover,
in Integrating OntoClean’s Notion of Unity and Identity with a Theory of Classes and
Types: Towards a Method for Evaluating Ontologies, the author provides a reformula-
tion of OntoClean’s notion of Identity and Unity within a formal theory of classes and
evaluates how the reformulations apply to BFO’s theory of types. This work is aimed at
making an additional contribution to ongoing efforts to build automated support to eva-
luate and standardize OBO Foundry candidate ontologies.
Ontology, Language and Social Relations: in Axiomatizing Change-of-State Words,
Niloofar Montazeri and Jerry R. Hobbs present a part of their program of developing
core theories of fundamental commonsense phenomena. These theories are then em-
ployed to define English word senses by means of axioms using predicates explicated

Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 vii

in these theories. In particular, in this paper they focus on structure of events and, more
specifically, on the axiomatization of on change-of-state words from the Core Wordnet;
in Elements for a linguistic ontology in the verbal domain, Lucia M. Tovena discusses
elements of a linguistically-motivated ontology and proposes a novel analysis to the
philosophical notion of sortal in order to address aspects of essence and discretization
of events; in Toward a Commonsense Theory of Microsociology: Interpersonal Rela-
tionships, Jerry R. Hobbs, Alicia Sagae and Suzanne Wertheim present a part of a for-
mal ontology of microsociology (focused on small-scale social groups). The discussed
part focuses on interpersonal relationships addressing concepts such as commitments,
shared plans and good will and aimed at formally characterizing relationships such as
the host-guest relationship and friendship in order to support inter-cultural communica-
tion.
Ontological Aspects of Time and Events: in The Data-Time Vocabulary, Mark H.
Linehan, Ed Barkmeyer, and Stan Hendryx present a new OMG specification that
models a Foundational Vocabulary of Time and related notions (e.g., continuous time,
discrete time, the relationship of events and situations to time, language tense and as-
pect, time indexicals, timetables, and schedules). The proposal offers a linguistic-
oriented vocabulary and ontology intended for supporting the specification of business
rules in different business domains; in States, Processes and Events, and the Ontology
of Causal Relations, Anthony Galton elaborates on the difficult subject of causation by
advancing aspects of an ontology of particulars. This ontology elaborates on notions
such as events, states and processes (taking a particular view on the latter two) as well
as different causal and causal-like relations (e.g., initiation, termination, perpetuation,
enablement and prevention) holding among them; Finally, in Ontology of Time in GFO,
Ringo Baumann, Frank Loebe, and Heinrich Herre present a novel formal ontology of
time as a part of the GFO research program. Besides presenting this formal theory, the
authors revisit a number of problematic cases related to temporal representation and
reasoning. Finally, a metalogical analysis for this theory is presented (including consis-
tency, completeness and decidability results).
Aspects of Ontology Representation: in Using Partial Automorphisms to Design
Process Ontologies, Bahar Aameri proposes a methodology for the design and
verification of domain-specific process ontologies that are extensions of generic
Copyright © 2012. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

process ontologies by using the notion of partial automorphism (a mapping from a

model to itself which preserves some substructures of the model); in A Temporal Ex-
tension of the Hayes/ter Horst Entailment Rules and an Alternative to W3C’s N-ary
Relations, Hans-Ulrich Krieger propose a novel approach that contains extended en-
tailment rules for RDFS and the OWL Horst dialect and is designed to efficiently sup-
port encoding of temporally changing information in OWL and RDF; finally, in Three
Semantics for the Core of the Distributed Ontology Language, Till Mossakowski,
Christoph Lange and Oliver Kutz present the abstract syntax and new? kind of seman-
tics for the meta-level constructs of the DOL (Distributed Ontology Language). A DOL
Ontology consists of modules formalized in existing ontology languages (e.g., OWL,
Common Logic, F-Logic). The language meta-level constructs can be employed to
express different types of links between these heterogeneous ontologies.
As program chairs we would like to thank all of the authors who submitted their
work and the reviewers who helped us to select the best papers from a pool of high
quality submissions.

Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 This page intentionally left blank
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Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 ix

Contents
Preface v

Part 1. Ontologies and Bioinformatics

Probability Assignments to Dispositions in Ontologies 3

Adrien Barton, Anita Burgun and Régis Duvauferrier
Maturation of Neuroscience Information Framework: An Ontology Driven
Information System for Neuroscience 15
Fahim T. Imam, Stephen Larson, Anita Bandrowski, Jeffrey S. Grethe,
Amarnath Gupta and Maryann E. Martone
Suggestions for Galaxy Workflow Design Using Semantically Annotated
Services 29
Alok Dhamanaskar, Michael E. Cotterell, Jie Zheng, Jessica C. Kissinger,
Christian J. Stoeckert Jr. and John A. Miller

Part 2. Ontologies of Physical Entities

The Void in Hydro Ontology 45

Torsten Hahmann and Boyan Brodaric
The Mysterious Appearance of Objects 59
Emanuele Bottazzi, Roberta Ferrario and Claudio Masolo
Towards Making Explicit the Ontological Commitment of a Database Schema
on the Geological Domain 73
Copyright © 2012. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Alda Maria Ferreira Rosa da Silva and Maria Cláudia Cavalcanti

Part 3. Ontological Aspects of Artifacts and Human Resources

An Ontology for Skill and Competency Management 89

Maryam Fazel-Zarandi and Mark S. Fox
Towards a Unified Definition of Function 103
Riichiro Mizoguchi, Yoshinobu Kitamura and Stefano Borgo
Preliminaries to a Formal Ontology of Failure of Engineering Artifacts 117
Luca del Frate

Part 4. Methodological Aspects in Ontology Engineering

A Method for Re-Engineering a Thesaurus into an Ontology 133

Daniel Kless, Ludger Jansen, Jutta Lindenthal and Jens Wiebensohn

Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 x

Ontology Content “At a Glance” 147

Gökhan Coskun, Mario Rothe and Adrian Paschke
Interactive Semantic Feedback for Intuitive Ontology Authoring 160
Ronald Denaux, Dhaval Thakker, Vania Dimitrova and
Anthony G. Cohn

Part 5. Ontology Evaluation

Does Your Ontology Make a (Sense) Difference? 177

Pawel Garbacz
A Method for Evaluating Ontologies – Introducing the BFO-Rigidity Decision
Tree Wizard 191
A. Patrice Seyed
Integrating OntoClean’s Notion of Unity and Identity with a Theory of Classes
and Types – Towards a Method for Evaluating Ontologies 205
A. Patrice Seyed

Part 6. Ontology, Language and Social Relations

Axiomatizing Change-of-State Words 221

Niloofar Montazeri and Jerry R. Hobbs
Elements for a Linguistic Ontology in the Verbal Domain 235
Lucia M. Tovena
Toward a Commonsense Theory of Microsociology: Interpersonal
Relationships 249
Jerry R. Hobbs, Alicia Sagae and Suzanne Wertheim

Part 7. Ontological Aspects of Time and Events

Copyright © 2012. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

The Date-Time Vocabulary 265

Mark H. Linehan, Ed Barkmeyer and Stan Hendryx
States, Processes and Events, and the Ontology of Causal Relations 279
Antony Galton
Ontology of Time in GFO 293
Ringo Baumann, Frank Loebe and Heinrich Herre

Part 8. Aspects of Ontology Representation

Using Partial Automorphisms to Design Process Ontologies 309

Bahar Aameri

Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 xi

A Temporal Extension of the Hayes/ter Horst Entailment Rules and an

Alternative to W3C’s N-ary Relations 323
Hans-Ulrich Krieger
Three Semantics for the Core of the Distributed Ontology Language 337
Till Mossakowski, Christoph Lange and Oliver Kutz

Subject Index 353

Author Index 355
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 This page intentionally left blank
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Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 Part 1
Ontologies and Bioinformatics
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 This page intentionally left blank
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Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 Formal Ontology in Information Systems 3
M. Donnelly and G. Guizzardi (Eds.)
IOS Press, 2012
© 2012 The authors and IOS Press. All rights reserved.
doi:10.3233/978-1-61499-084-0-3

Probability assignments to dispositions in

ontologies
Adrien BARTONa,b,1, Anita BURGUNa and Régis DUVAUFERRIERa
a
U936, INSERM & Université Rennes 1, Rennes, France
b
Department of Philosophy, KTH University, Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract. We investigate how probabilities can be assigned to dispositions in

ontologies, building on Popper’s propensity approach. We show that if D is a
disposition universal associated with a trigger T and a realization R, and d is an
instance of D, then one can assign a probability to the triplets (d,T,R) and (D,T,R).
These probabilities measure the causal power of dispositions, which can be
defined as limits of relative frequencies of possible instances of T triggering an
instance of R over a hypothetical infinite random sequence of possible instances of
T satisfying certain conditions. Adopting a fallibilist methodology, these
probability values can be estimated by relative frequencies in actual finite
sequences.

Keywords. probability, upper ontology, universal, causal power, frequency

Introduction

Probabilistic and statistical notions are ubiquitous in the medical domain. These
include e.g. the prevalence of a disease in a population, the sensitivity or the specificity
Copyright © 2012. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

of a medical test, or the probability for a person to develop a disease in a given

timeframe. It would therefore be valuable if ontologies aiming at representing
adequately medical knowledge could formalize probabilistic notions.
The OBO Foundry is to date one of the most significant attempts to build
interoperable ontologies in the biomedical domain. In this context, the OGMS ontology
[1] aims at supplying a general ontology for the medical domain. The question of how
to represent probabilistic notions in this framework is still open. A first attempt on a
related topic has been made by Röhl & Jansen [2], who analyze the non-probabilistic
aspects of the notion of disposition. We will build on their work and combine it with
Popper’s work [3] on propensity in order to investigate the probabilistic dimension of
dispositions. In particular, we will try to determine to which kind of dispositional
entities a probability can be assigned: to universals, to particulars, or to both?

1
Corresponding Author; E-mail: [email protected]
Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 4 A. Barton et al. / Probability Assignments to Dispositions in Ontologies

1. Dispositions and propensities

Before investigating how to formalize the concept of propensity in ontologies, let us

first introduce our general ontological framework, and explain the propensity account
in the field of philosophy of probability.

1.1. Realizable entities and dispositions

The OBO Foundry relies on the upper-level ontology Basic Formal Ontology (BFO),
which aims at formalizing the most general concepts that domain ontologies should be
based on. At the most general level, BFO recognizes two different types of entities. On
one hand, there are occurrents, which are extended in time (all processes, e.g. a dinner
or a movie screening, are occurrents). On the other hand, there are continuants, which
are entirely present at every time they exist. These include independent continuants,
which roughly correspond to what we would imagine as objects (e.g. the Earth, a bottle
of wine, a molecule) or object aggregates (e.g. a flock of birds); and dependent
continuants, which inhere in independent continuants (e.g. the greenness of a leaf, the
shape of the Earth). Amongst dependent continuants, BFO makes a distinction between
qualities on one hand, and realizable entities on the other hand. Qualities are entities
that can be described as “categorical”, meaning that they are constantly realized. For
example, at any instant, a ball has a color and a shape, therefore these dependent
continuants are categorical properties and must be classified as qualities. By contrast,
realizable entities have two different kinds of phases: actualization phase, during which
they are realized through some processes; and dormancy phases, during which they still
exist in their bearer but are not realized (cf. [4]).
Dispositions belong to this family of realizable entities: a disposition borne by an
object will lead to a given process (named here “realization”) when this object is
introduced into certain specific circumstances (named here “trigger”). For example,
according to OGMS, the disease “epilepsy” is a disposition whose realizations are
epileptic seizures; even at times when he is not undergoing any epileptic seizure, an
epileptic patient is still bearing an instance of such a disposition. Let us point that a
disposition always has a categorical basis (cf. [5]) – that is, a set of categorical
Copyright © 2012. IOS Press, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

properties (qualities) underlying the disposition. For example, the categorical basis of
the disease “epilepsy” is constituted by some anomalies in neural structures, which are
going to lead to epileptic seizures when some trigger (e.g. a stressful episode, or a
flashing light for photosensitive people) is happening.
Finally, dispositions can be divided between sure-fire dispositions (dispositions
whose triggering process lead systematically to a realization – for example the
disposition for a windshield to break when it is hit by a 30 tons truck) and probabilistic
dispositions (dispositions whose triggering process lead to a realization with some
probability – for example the disposition for a fair coin to land on heads when it is
tossed). We will investigate this second kind of dispositions in this paper.

1.2. Probabilistic dispositions and interpretation of probabilities

According to Röhl & Jansen [2], a disposition attribution has the following general
structure: x has a disposition D for realization R with a trigger T with a probability p.
Here, R is the realization process of the disposition; and T is its triggering process.
Additionally, probability is for them simply a number between 0 and 1, and a

Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 A. Barton et al. / Probability Assignments to Dispositions in Ontologies 5

probability attribution is a function of the tuple <disposition, realization> to this

interval. However, this definition leaves open two questions. First, it does not explain
what it means to assign a probability to a disposition: how can we express, using only
non-probabilistic concepts, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the assignment
of a probability p to a disposition? This is a particular case of a classical problem in
philosophy of probability, namely the task of interpreting probabilities. Several theories
have been proposed in the past, including frequentist theories (proposed by Von Mises
and Reichenbach), which interpret the probability of an event as the relative frequency
of this event in a hypothetical infinite sequence of trials; logicist theories (by Keynes
and Carnap), which see probabilities as degrees of entailment between two
propositions; subjectivist theories (by Ramsey and De Finetti), for whom a probability
is a degree of belief of a rational agent in a proposition; and finally propensity theories
(by Popper), that will be detailed thereafter. The second question left open by this
definition is the following: are the entities present in the tuple <disposition, realization>
particulars or universals? As we will see, we will have to answer the first question in
order to answer the second one.
Of note, all interpretations of probability face important difficulties: see e.g. [6]
and [7] for flaws in the frequentist interpretation, and see [8] for critics of the
propensity theory. Moreover, Hansson [9] has pointed to the need of second-order
probabilities, suggesting that a subjectivist interpretation of probability, though
necessary, is likely to be not sufficient, and should be complemented with an
objectivist interpretation of probability like a frequentist or propensity theory. Of these
two theories, propensity theories appear to be more solid than frequentist ones (cf. [7],
[10]). The underlying realist philosophy of BFO also naturally invites a propensity
approach of probability; indeed, Röhl & Jansen’s work [2] on sure-fire dispositions can
be extended to probabilistic dispositions along the lines of this propensity theory. So let
us introduce briefly this propensity approach as it has been developed in the
philosophical literature, before trying to adapt it to the framework of ontologies.

1.3. Two analysis of propensity

Popper [3] has proposed the following account of propensity (refined thereafter in
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particular by Mellor [11] and Williamson [12]): repeatable experimental conditions

(named “test”) C are endowed with a disposition (named “propensity”) to produce
infinite hypothetical sequences of events amongst which the limit of relative
frequencies of an event E would be equal to the value of the probability of E given C.
For example, according to this account, an experiment of coin tosses of a symmetrical
coin is endowed with a propensity which is realized when a hypothetical infinite
sequence of tosses happens, by leading to a relative frequency of results “heads” of ½.
According to Popper’s account, probabilities are always conditional and there does
not exist any probabilities simpliciter: it does not make sense to speak of the
probability of E, one can only deal with the probability of E given C. This should not
be seen as a weakness of Popper’s account: it may actually be a common feature shared
with all other viable approaches of probability (see [13]).
Let us call “propensity1” such a disposition. It is important to understand that the
trigger of the propensity1 is not C, but an infinite repetition of experimental conditions
C; and its realization is not E, but E happening with a given limit of relative
frequencies. Also, one should note that according to this account, it is certain that the
event E will happen with a given limit of relative frequency if C is repeated an infinite

Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 6 A. Barton et al. / Probability Assignments to Dispositions in Ontologies

number of times; therefore, the propensity1 is not a probabilistic disposition, but a sure-
fire disposition.
However, this account can seem problematic. As a matter of fact, if all propensities
would be realized only during hypothetical infinite sequences of tests, there would be
no point in representing them in ontologies. Indeed, in real life, we are generally not
interested in hypothetical infinite sequences of tests (such as an infinite hypothetical
sequence of coin tosses), but in actual and finite sequences of tests (such as a finite
sequence of coin tosses).
This problem can however be easily overcome. As a matter of fact, like any
dispositional property, propensity1 are associated with a categorical basis – that is, a set
of categorical properties that underlie the disposition. For example, the propensity1 of a
coin to fall on heads is associated with a categorical basis composed by some
symmetry properties of the coin. But this categorical basis is also the bearer of another
dispositional property that we will name here “propensity2”, whose trigger is not a
hypothetical infinite sequence of repetitions of C (as it was for the propensity 1), but a
unique test C. In the coin toss example, the symmetry properties of the coin will have a
causal influence not only during an infinite hypothetical sequence of tosses, but also
during a unique coin toss. The latter causal influence reveals a disposition to fall on
heads after a unique toss, which is a propensity2. This is not a sure-fire disposition, but
a probabilistic disposition. As a historical note, Popper’s account of propensity actually
evolved during his life from a propensity1 theory to a propensity2 theory – although he
never properly differentiated these two interpretations, and occasionally switched
between one and the other without mentioning it (cf. [10]). These two accounts should
however not be seen as rivals, but as complementary.
In a nutshell, we defend here the thesis that for every propensity1, there is an
associated propensity2 (and vice versa) such that 1) a propensity1 and its associated
propensity2 have the same categorical basis and 2) the trigger of a propensity 1
associated with C is an infinite sequence of repetitions of C, whereas the trigger of the
propensity2 associated with C is a single instance of C. We will here be interested
mainly in propensities2 rather than in propensities1, as they are the ones which are
realized (repeatedly) in finite and actual sequences of tests that we normally encounter.
Does it mean that propensities1 are of no use at all? This is not the case: we
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actually need them, because of some insufficiencies of the propensity2 account. As a

matter of fact, propensity2 to an event E will have a causal influence (also named
“causal power”) on the realization of this event when a test C happens; and it would be
desirable to define probability as the intensity of this causal power. However, to our
knowledge, there is currently no theory of causal powers giving a direct interpretation
(using only non-probabilistic concepts) of such a probability by referring to only one
test C (as expressed by Eagle [8]: “No account of partial causation has ever quantified
the part-cause-of relation in the way that is required for probability.”). Still, we can
define the probability of a propensity2 through the associated propensity1, in the
following way. Let us write P2 a propensity2 for an event E and a test C; and let us
consider P1 the associated propensity1 that will be realized with E happening with a
limit of relative frequencies p over a hypothetical infinite sequence of repetitions of C.
Then we can simply define the intensity of P2 as having this value p (see [11] for a
related strategy). For example, according to this approach, a coin has a propensity 2 of
intensity ½ to fall on heads on a unique toss if and only if it will fall on heads with a
relative frequency ½ in an infinite hypothetical sequence of tosses. Therefore, this
value ½ characterizes not only the relative frequency in a hypothetical infinite

Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 A. Barton et al. / Probability Assignments to Dispositions in Ontologies 7

repetition of coin tosses, when the propensity1 is realized, but also the causal power of
the propensity2 in a unique toss.
This provides us with a first insight into the ontology of probabilistic dispositions.
We now have to specify this account in the framework of the BFO ontology, by
adapting the concept of propensity2 to this framework, and by introducing the
distinction between universals and particulars.

2. Ontologies and probabilistic dispositions

We will use here the analysis of dispositions, bearer, trigger and realization proposed
by Röhl & Jansen [2], which introduces the following relations between particulars:
has_bearer relates a particular of disposition with its (particular) bearer;
has_realization relates a (particular) disposition with its realization; has_triggerD,
relates a disposition to its trigger; and has_triggerR relates a realization to its trigger.
Röhl & Jansen also introduce the following relations between universals: has_bearer,
has_realization, has_triggerD et has_triggerR (here we adopt the usual convention of
writing in bold the relations for which one of the relata at least is a particular, and
writing in italic the relations that relate only universals).
Röhl & Jansen’s analysis is restricted to sure-fire dispositions. If the triggering
process of a sure-fire disposition happens, then its realization process also happens: this
is expressed by through Röhl & Jansen so-called “realization principle”. However, the
triggering process of a probabilistic disposition can happen without its realization
happening. Therefore, the realization principle is not verified for probabilistic
dispositions. Neither is Röhl & Jansen’s following axiom: d has_triggerD t я
‫׌‬r (d has_realization r ‫ ר‬r has_triggerR t), for the same reason. Instead, the following
weaker axiom holds true for probabilistic disposition: ‫׌‬r (d has_realization r ‫ר‬
r has_triggerR t) ֜d has_triggerD t.
In the most general case, we want to assign probabilities to triplets <disposition,
trigger, realization>. We now have to investigate whether the entities that appear in this
triplet are universals or particulars. For this, let us introduce D a disposition universal,
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X an independent continuant universal such that D has_bearer X, T an occurrent

universal such that D has_triggerD T, and R an occurrent universal such that D
has_realization R. Let us consider also a particular disposition d such that
d instance_of D, x an independent continuant such that x instance_of X and
d has_bearer x, t a process such that d has_triggerD t (and therefore t instance_of T),
and r a process such that d has_realization r (and therefore r instance_of R) and
r has_triggerR t.
We will show that we can assign a probability to two different kind of triplets:
(d,T,R) and (D,T,R). In order to show this, we have to find necessary and sufficient
conditions for statements like “(d,T,R) has a probability p” or “(D,T,R) has a
probability p”, conditions which should not mention any probabilistic concept. That is,
we need to reduce probabilistic assignments to non-probabilistic statements.

Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
 8 A. Barton et al. / Probability Assignments to Dispositions in Ontologies

3. Assignment of probability to a triplet (d,T,R)

3.1. Definition of probability of (d,T,R)

In order to illustrate the meaning of a statement like “(d,T,R) has a probability p”, let
us consider a particular case. Let us name T’ the universal process whose instances are
sets of fifty white light flashes emitted by a 100 Watts bulb at a frequency of 10 Hz,
seen by a person at a distance of one meter (any instance of such a repetition of fifty
flashes will be abbreviated thereafter under the name ‘flashing light’); R’ the universal
“epileptic seizure”; and D’ the universal disposition such that D’ has_triggerD T’ and D’
has_realization R’ (that is, D’ is the universal disposition of having an epileptic seizure
while seeing a flashing light). Finally, let us write x’ the particular Mr. Dupont, a
photosensitive epileptic patient; and d’ the instance of D’ such that d’ has_bearer x’
(that is, d’ is the disposition of Mr. Dupont to have an epileptic seizure when seeing a
flashing light). The disposition d’ is associated with a categorical basis constituted by
some properties of neural structures of M. Dupont. The probability p’ assigned to
(d’,T’,R’) should then measure the causal power of these neural anomalies in triggering
an epileptic seizure of Mr. Dupont during a flashing light.
This specific disposition d’ is a high-level disposition; it is likely that there are
many lower-level dispositions being triggered in Mr. Dupont’s brain which keep on
manifesting until a particular threshold is reached and M. Dupont has a fit (see [14] for
a theory of dispositions along these lines). However, an ontology of medicine would
focus on such a high-level disposition – not the lower-level dispositions underlying it
(unless its granularity would be pushed to the neurobiological level). Therefore, we
have to find a way to define the causal power assigned to the triplet (d’,T’,R’).
Such a causal power can be defined according to the lines mentioned in section 1,
using the fact that universals are repeatable (that is, they can be instantiated by several
particulars): p’ equals 0.2 if and only if, in every random hypothetical infinite sequence
of flashing lights perceived by Mr. Dupont, the limit of relative frequency of situations
causing an epileptic seizure is 0.2.
It seems that BFO does not have enough expressive power for these concepts. As a
matter of fact, a hypothetical infinite sequence is composed (at least in part) by possible,
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non-actual entities – whereas BFO only recognizes actual particulars. In order to

circumvent this problem, we will consider here an extension of BFO that recognizes
also possible, non-actual particulars. The difficulties raised by this extension are out of
reach of this article; and we do not claim that BFO should be permanently extended in
this way (cf. our discussion in the Conclusion section). Here, we are just concerned
with finding the necessary concepts to rephrase probability assignments in non-
probabilistic statements, in order to determine to which kind of entities one can assign
probabilities. In the remainder of this article, we will accept that particulars can be
either actual or possible entities.
Let us name “sequence generated by (d,T)” an infinite sequence of possible
particulars which are instances of T and triggers of d. That is, if G is a sequence
generated by (d,T), one can write G = (t1, t2, …, tn,...) where : ‫׊‬i∈N, ti instance_of T ‫ר‬
d has_trigger ti. Let us now write: GnR = (ti | i∈[1,n], ∃ri ri instance_of R ‫ר‬
d has_realization ri ‫ ר‬ri has_triggerR ti). That is, GnR is the subsequence, amongst the
n first elements of G, of the processes that will trigger a realization of d.

Formal Ontology in Information Systems : Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference (FOIS 2012), IOS Press,
Other documents randomly have
different content
 Very few, if any pawnbrokers, pay any attention to the law. They
know that the great majority of their customers are ignorant of the
provisions of the statutes and that those who are familiar with it will
not avail themselves of its protection, as they fear to lose the favor
of the pawnbrokers. Consequently they fix their own rate of interest,
which may be said to average five per cent per month, or any
fractional part of a month, or sixty per cent per year. Some of the
more unscrupulous members of the fraternity, where dealings are
exclusively with the poor, charge a much higher rate, extorting as
much as ten per cent a month from those whose needs are very
great.
The writer recalls a case where a widow of a few days came into a
pawnshop on Clark street. She was clad in a light calico wrapper
with a small shawl thrown about her head. She was destitute, and
had been ordered from her little three-room flat near by, unless the
almost fabulous sum, to her, of seven dollars and fifty cents, should
be paid over to the landlord at once. Trembling she entered the
dingy “store” and offered her engagement ring in pawn. Being asked
the amount she wanted for the pledge, she was told that she would
receive just one-quarter of that amount.
“Oh, sir,” she pleaded, “I must have that amount, my baby is sick
and the doctor said that to remove her now would mean to kill her.
The ring is the last and most precious gift I have of my dear, dead
husband. I will redeem it, if God gives me life and strength to do so.”
The hardened man refused to give more, and taking the ring from
his hand, with tears streaming down her pale cheeks, she started
toward the door.
My sympathies were naturally with the poor, grief-stricken woman,
and advancing toward her asked if I might assist her in any way. She
told me a story of want and deprivation. How she had sold
everything of value she had in order to furnish medicine for her
husband who had been sick for a long time. How, one by one, her
most cherished and useful articles of furniture, bric-a-brac and
jewelry had been sold or pawned, keeping to the last, the ring, the
one token that meant so much to her.
Turning to the keeper of the shop I instructed him to give her the
amount she had previously asked for, stating that I would pay him
that amount if the woman in question failed to redeem the ring
within sixty days. I shall never forget the expression of gratitude that
seemed to permeate her whole being, and with profuse
thankfulness, and “God bless you, sir,” she departed.
Another source of profit to the pawnbrokers arises from the sale of
unredeemed articles. Advances are made at so low a rate that the
property pledged is sure to bring more when put up for sale than the
sum loaned upon it.
The majority of the pawnbrokers of Chicago are Polish and
Russian Jews, and are the most rascally of that race. They do not
monopolize the business, however, for there are Englishmen,
Irishmen and even Americans engaged in it. The most honest
dealers are found among the Americans and Englishmen. The
pawnbroker is by nature a scoundrel, and so far as the observation
of the writer goes, has not one redeeming quality. He advances the
smallest amount on goods pledged, extorts the highest rates of
interest, and is the most merciless in his dealings with his customers
of any of the fraternity. The Jews are so numerous in this business,
that they have given it its peculiar reputation. These wretches suck
the very life blood from the poor, and having gotten possession of
their property, do not hesitate to sell it for many times its value,
when they see an opportunity for doing so. When the owner comes
for his or her property, the pawnbroker declares, with well feigned
regret, that it cannot be found, and either turns the owner out of
doors, or buys up his pawn ticket at a very heavy discount. He
knows the disinclination to seek redress at law. These wretches do
not hesitate to deck their families out in the clothing, shawls and
jewelry pledged to them. Often the clothes are worn out, and the
return of the pledge is either refused or the articles are restored in
such a damaged condition as to be useless. Sometimes a spirited
depositor will demand full redress for the loss so inflicted upon him,
and will threaten the broker with an appeal to the courts. If the
broker is convinced that the depositor is in earnest, he settles up
promptly; but there is an end to his dealings with that person. He
has no wish to have his transactions brought to the light of Justice.
Such proceeding would bring unpleasant consequences in its train,
and he does not desire such customers.
The majority of the pawnshops are dirty and repulsive in
appearance. Before them hangs the sign of the three balls, and the
windows are filled with unredeemed pledges for sale, and are
adorned with signs stating that money is loaned here on all kinds of
property at the most liberal rates.
Pushing open the dirty door, we enter a dingy apartment. The air
is close and stuffy, and the room smells strongly of garlic or onions.
A man with an unmistakably Jewish face and a villainous expression
of countenance stands behind the narrow counter. We take our
stand inside, invisibly of course, and watch the proceedings.
A young man enters, well-dressed, and rather dissipated in
appearance. The child of Abraham watches him narrowly, and begins
to shake his head and groan, as if in pain. The visitor approaches
the counter, and lays a gold watch upon it. The broker clutches it
eagerly, examines it, and groans louder than ever.
“Vat you want on dis vatch?” he asks mournfully.
“Fifty dollars. It cost me one hundred and fifty,” is the reply.
“Fifty tollar! fifty tollar! Holy Moshish, vat you take me for?”
Then turning, calls wildly, “Abraham! Abraham! you shust koom
heir, quick.”
A second Jew, dirtier and more disreputable looking than the first,
makes his appearance, and the proprietor, passing up his hands,
shrieks out, as if in despair:
 “Abraham! he vants fifty tollars on dat vatch. De man is crazy.”
“Ve shall be ruined,” echoes Abraham, hoarsely. “Ve couldn’t do it.
Tish too much.”
The proprietor waves his arms wildly, takes the watch from
Abraham, and eyeing the owner sharply for a moment, says:
“I tell you vat I do. I gif you fifteen tollars. How long you vant de
monish?”
“Only for a month,” replies the young man, evidently struggling
between disgust and despair.
“I let you haf fifteen tollars for de month,” says the pawnbroker,
seizing a ticket and commencing to make it out. “You pay me one
tollar for de loan, and pay me fifty cents to put de vatch in de safe,
you know it might get stole if I leaf it out hier. Dat shuit you, mine
young frient?”
The young man has “been there” before, and knows that
remonstrance is useless. He nods a silent affirmation, and the
pawnbroker makes out a ticket for fifteen dollars, and hands him
thirteen dollars and fifty cents, having deducted the interest and the
charge for storage. The young man receives the money and ticket,
and goes out in silence.
“Dat ish peesness,” says Abraham, admiringly, as the proprietor
puts the watch away.
“Yesh,” mutters the pawnbroker, with a satisfied air, “de vatch ish
vort a hundred tollar. If he don’t take it up, it will bring us dat.”
The next customer is a poor woman, who comes to pledge some
article of household use. She is ground down to the lowest cent, and
charged the highest interest; and so the proceedings go on until we
become heartsick, and leave the place as invisibly as we can.
 The principal dealings of the pawnbrokers are, as we have said,
with the poor. Life is hard in Chicago, and those who dwell under the
shadow are obliged to make great sacrifices of comfort to keep body
and soul together. Everything that will bring money finds its way to
the pawn shop and the miserable pittance received for it goes to
provide food. Too often articles of household use or clothing are
pawned to raise money for drink, and the possessions of the family
are one by one sacrificed for this wretched purpose, until nothing is
left.
The pawnbrokers find a very profitable class of customers in the
respectable working people of the city; many of these regularly
pawn articles, sometimes of value, at the first of the week, and
redeem them when they receive their wages on Saturday. It is to the
broker’s interest to be obliging to these people, since they are
regular customers, and he reaps a rich harvest from them in the
exhorbitant interest they pay him.
It is a common belief that the pawnbrokers are also receivers of
stolen goods. Some of the more unscrupulous may make ventures of
this kind, but as a rule the brokers have nothing to do with thieves;
the risk of detection is too great, so they confine themselves to what
they term their “legitimate business,” and leave dealings in stolen
property to the “fences,” who constitute a distinct class.
 Pacific Garden Mission
In one of the vilest sections of the city is a modest looking brick
building, known as Pacific Garden Mission. Over the door hangs a
lantern bearing the inscription, “Strangers Welcome.” When the
shades of night come on, and the rays of the lantern shine out,
revealing the legend inscribed upon it, they illuminate a region full of
vice, crime and suffering. In earlier days the street was lined with
long rows of rum-shops, ratpits, low-down dens, and thieves’ dens
of the worst description. Here and there are dance houses, brilliantly
lighted, and ornamented with gaudy transparencies. Strains of music
floated out into the night air, and about the doors and along the
sidewalks stand groups of hideous women, waiting to entice the
stranger into these hells where they are made drunk with drugged
liquors, robbed of their money and valuables and turned helpless
into the streets. Groups of drunken and foul-mouthed men and boys
lounge about the street, bandying vile jests with the women, and
often insulting respectable passers by. High over all this sea of
wretchedness and sin, the Pacific Garden lantern shines out like a
beacon light, the only sign of cheer and hope to be seen. If you
listen you will hear sounds of music in this building also, but the
strains are of praise and thanksgiving—strange sounds to hear in
such a neighborhood.
Some years ago a wretched building, that had long been used for
vile purposes and known as one of the toughest places which
Chicago then supported, was secured by George R. Clarke and his
wife, and was opened as a Christian mission, and devoted to saving
the drunken and sinful dwellers in this section of the city. The work
was slow at first, but it prospered and at length assumed such
proportions that the old building was found inadequate to the
purpose of the mission and the German Methodist Church building at
100 Van Buren street was secured and has been continuously
occupied by the Mission for over twenty-five years.
The surprise of this quarter of the city at seeing George R. Clarke
and his wife in its midst in the guise of missionaries was not
unnatural. Ministering to, caring for, and saving the drunkard and the
harlot is the work planned for the corps of workers.
Colonel Clarke, as he was familiarly known, died some years ago.
It was while he was engaged as a western miner that he became
imbued with the spirit to save souls. Returning to Chicago, he
married, and the two began the work of saving the lost and
friendless. Their meetings were well attended; many came to see
and hear and others to make fun; but the earnestness of the
devoted pair had its effects and the curious and scoffers became
converts in their turn. Little by little assistance began to be held out
to the Mission, and at length a strong body of Christian men and
women came to its aid with money, and the Mission placed upon a
sound and safe basis.
They have gone among the outcasts and the wretched, the sinful
and the degraded, and have rescued them from their vile ways,
brought them to the saving knowledge of God and His religion, and
have started them in a new and better course of life. Their efforts
often failed; many of their converts lapsed into their old ways, but
the number of those who are actually reforming is surprisingly large,
and the lasting results achieved are great and glorious. No one,
however wretched, however far gone in sin, is ever turned away; a
helping hand is extended to all, and the vilest outcast is made to feel
welcome and confident that there is still a chance for salvation left
him.
There is no more interesting sight in the city than one of Pacific
Garden Mission Gospel meetings. The audience is made up of men
and women of various classes, including many who avoid other
Christian agencies, who have never been in a place of prayer or
heard the Bible read except by the prison Chaplain; the poor and
friendless who have drifted into Chicago from all parts of the world;
drunkards, thieves, roughs and discharged convicts, sailors, and
many prodigal sons who have wandered away from Christian
mothers and have fallen into crime and beggary.
The meetings are held in a pleasant, well-lighted and ventilated
room on the first floor. Near the entrance hangs a sign, inscribed as
follows: “Strangers and the Poor Always Welcome.” Over the inside
walls is the favorite scriptural verse of Colonel Clarke, which reads:
“Christ came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am
Chief.” The room is neatly furnished, and is provided with a cabinet
organ.
The genius of the place is Harry Munroe, the assistant
superintendent of the mission. He is a powerful messenger of the
Gospel to the lost ones of the great city. He is a man with sharp eyes
and quick, decisive manner. He is thoroughly in earnest in his work,
and understands the character and habits of the class to whom he
appeals. Being intense in his purposes and animated by a desire to
win sinners to the Saviour, he is able to speak with effectual power
to these rough men, who listen respectfully to his words, and are
attracted to him by those personal peculiarities that fit him for his
work—a work that is unique, and has become one of the most
important in the great city.
As the clock points to the hour for song and testimony, Harry
opens his hymn-book, and calls out in a strong, cheery voice, “sixty-
nine,” and thereupon the singing begins, accompanied by the
cabinet organ, and the singers whose voices were once raised only
in blasphemy. If the singing is a little faint, Harry spurs up his
audience by calling out, “Don’t be afraid of your voices, boys; sing
out with your whole soul,” and generally the volume of praise grows
stronger and fuller.
The testimonies roll in as the meeting progresses, strange and
startling many of them, some so quaintly worded that they would
provoke a smile in a more “respectable” prayer-meeting, but all
given with an earnestness and pathos that is wonderful. Sometimes
a drunken man will endeavor to interrupt the meeting. One night a
man of this kind staggered to his feet, and hiccoughed, “Jesus saves
me, too.”
“That ain’t so,” replied Harry, emphatically; “Jesus don’t save any
man that is full of rum.” And down sits the man, utterly abashed by
the quick retort.
Harry acts as his own policeman, and meets all attempts at
disturbances on the ground. The offenders are seized in his powerful
grasp, and led to the door, and put into the street, first being
entreated to be quiet and lead better lives.
As the testimonies are given the audience is deeply moved.
Yonder is a street-walker, kneeling on the floor, with her face hidden
in her hands, sobbing bitterly. Mrs. Clarke, or one of the co-workers
goes down to the poor outcast, and whispers to her despairing soul
the only words of hope she ever heard. Others give evidence of their
desire to be saved, and the meeting devotes itself to prayer for
them. Mrs. Clarke’s keen eye sweeps the room, and at once detects
the hesitating. In an instant she is at their side, devoting her mild,
but powerful eloquence to urging them to take the decisive step
then and there.
There is something wonderful in her mild grasp of the hand, and
in her earnest tones, “Come, let the Good Lord save you. He has
saved others, and I know there is a chance for you.”
“And He took him by the right hand and lifted him up.” Lifted him
up! my brother!
 Churches
Among the great institutions of Chicago is the church. No greater
force for righteousness exists anywhere. The great, stately edifices
are scattered over the entire city; from the business center back to
the grand trees of the suburbs. Their tall spires point solemnly
heavenward, as if to lift the soul above the vulgar worship of
mammon, and at intervals the sweet tones of chimes come floating
down into the streets, telling that wealth is not all, folly is not all,
business is not all! but that there is something purer, nobler, waiting
high above the golden cross which the sunlight bathes so lovingly.
The music at the fashionable churches is superb. The organist is a
professor of reputation, and the choir is made up of singers of some
note who devote themselves to concerts and public amusements on
secular days.
Not many years ago the tenor of one of the best choirs in the city
was also the popular singer in a State street “Free and Easy.” He had
a magnificent voice, and his secular engagements were constant and
profitable; often keeping him in the concert hall all through Saturday
night, and until the small hours of Sunday morning. The tenor
unfortunately had a weakness for his glass, and it was a constant
wonder to his friends that he contrived to get his head clear enough
by church time on Sunday morning to take his place in the choir of
St. —— church. For a long while, however, he managed to fill both
engagements creditably, but at length misfortune overtook him. He
had sung at the “Free and Easy” on Saturday night and had gotten
through the morning service with credit. The eloquence of the
preacher lulled him into a profound slumber, and all through the
sermon he was dreaming of the concert hall and the jolly crowd
assembled to hear him render his great song of “Muldoon.” The
sermon over he was aroused from his slumber by a fellow member
of the choir, who whispered that they were waiting for his solo. Still
half asleep, and with his head yet full of the saloon and the applause
awaiting him, he staggered to the choir rail, looking about him,
broke out lustily:

“Come and see me, I’ll trate ye decent,

I’ll make ye drunk; I’ll fill yer can,
Sure, when I walk the strate,
Says each one I mate,
There goes Muldoon; he’s a solid man.”

The reader may picture to himself the sensation the tenor’s solo
produced in the church.
The recklessness with which the churches rush into debt is
appalling. No other class of real estate in Chicago is so heavily
incumbered as that of religious associations; and this in spite of the
fact that no sort of property has a more uncertain tenure of its
income, the whole depending, in a large measure, on the popularity
of the ministers, and the good will and prosperity of the members.
Nearly the whole of the debt thus created, is for the enlargement of
the churches or constructing new ones. Scarcely any of the
congregations go into debt for the purpose of increasing the
minister’s salary, or to enlarge the contributions to missionary funds
or charitable enterprises. All is for show. Old fashioned, comfortable
churches, free from debt, are torn down or sold, and new edifices,
rich and costly in every detail, are erected. A little money is
advanced, the church plastered over with mortgages, and the next
generation left to pay for the vanity of the present. Sometimes the
mortgages are paid, but too often the reverse is the case. The
mortgage is foreclosed, the beautiful temple is sold, and perhaps is
converted into a theatre, concert hall or factory.
So handsome are the churches, as a rule, so conspicuously do
wealth and fashion thrust themselves forward on all sides, that the
poor rarely seek them. They are too fine, and the pride of the
honest poor man will not permit him to take his place in a house of
worship where he is certain to be looked coldly upon, and made to
feel his lack of worldly goods.
Fashion and wealth rule with iron hands, even in the house of
God, and in these gorgeous temples, the class who were nearest
and dearest to the Master’s heart, have no place. But what have the
churches to fear? Are they not strong in the power of God?
 Concert Saloons and Damnation
The concert saloons are among the worst features of the social
evil. They flourish in almost every quarter of the city, and are so
many places where the devil’s work is done. The better class of
citizens are helpless to abate the nuisance. The vipers in human
form, who keep these soul-destroying places, are men so small in
principle, that their poltroon souls would rattle in the eyeballs of the
most infinitesimal animalculæ that ever infested a stagnant mud-
hole. These are the men the city authorities allow to continue their
nefarious business, against the wish of a majority of property
owners of Chicago. Woe betide a mayor or chief of police who will
deliberately ignore requests for decency on the one hand, as against
immorality on the other.
These concert saloons provide a low order of music, and the
liquors furnished are of the vilest description. In former days the
service of the place was rendered by young women; many of whom
were dressed in tights and all sorts of fantastic costumes; the chief
object being to display the figure as much as possible. The girls
were hideous and unattractive, and were foul-mouthed and bloated.
The visitors were principally young men, and even boys, though
older men, and even gray heads, were sometimes seen among
them. The women are prostitutes of the lowest order. They
encourage the visitors to drink, shamelessly violate every rule of
propriety, and generally ready to rob a visitor who is too far gone in
liquor to protect himself. These places are frequented by all classes
of society, from the lowest dregs to men and women who claim
respectability, and occasionally a man and his family are seen in
these places. Ruffians, bent on robbery, keep a close watch on the
visitors, and when one of the latter, overcome with liquor, staggers
out of the place, follow him, lure him into a back street, rob him,
and if necessary to their safety, murder him. Oftentimes they lure
their helpless victims to the river front, and there rob and kill him,
and throw his body into the water, where it is found by the harbor
police.
The dance halls are often handsome places, but were simply
rendezvous of street walkers, and men who came to seek their
company. The principal establishment of this kind was the infamous
Apollo theatre and dance hall, previously mentioned. All were
admitted free. We enter through a lobby into bar-room, back of
which is the dance hall. The place was furnished with tables, and
chairs are scattered about the sides of the first floor, but the central
space is kept clear for dancing. The galleries are also provided with
tables and chairs. At the back is a dimly lighted space, fitted up like
a garden, where those who desire may sit and drink. The place was
always well filled. The women present were the inmates of the
neighboring houses of ill-fame, and street walkers. Each one is a
prostitute, and each one is intent upon luring some man into her
chamber. The men are mostly young, but on “gala-nights” and
during the “balls” which were given here in the winter of 1877,
would cause the givers of the First Ward annual ball to turn green
with envy. An orchestra in the gallery opposite the entrance provides
the music, and the dance is on. The air is heavy with tobacco
smoke. Men and women are constantly passing in and out; drinking
is going on in every part of the hall. In spite of its brilliancy and
splendor, the place is but one of the numerous gateways to hell, with
which Chicago abounds.
Men meet abandoned women here, and accompany them to their
houses, risking disease, robbery, and even death, with a
recklessness that is appalling. Young men of respectable families
come here nightly, and spend hours in company with these
abandoned women who frequent the place. These same young men
would shrink with fastidious horror from even a moment’s
conversation with the cooks and housemaids of their own homes.
Yet here they find pleasure in the association with women equally as
ignorant and unrefined and in every way unworthy to compare with
the honest and virtuous maids of their homes.
A great deal of immorality is carried on in the city of which the
police cannot take cognizance, and of which it is impossible to obtain
statistics. This grade of vice is confined largely to persons of normal
respectability. The columns of certain city journals contain numerous
personals by which appointments are made, and communications
exchanged between persons engaged in intrigues. These people
support the numerous assignation houses which abound in the city.
Some of the most fashionable are furnished and owned by men of
respectability. They put a woman in charge of the house, and share
the large receipts with her.
Great efforts are being made by benevolent people to lessen the
amount of vice with which the metropolis is cursed. The problem is
fearful to behold. The most successful of these various means that
have been adopted to rescue fallen women from their wretched
lives, are the missions. They are open to all who seek refuge in
them, and invitations are scattered among them by agents. The
women are treated with kindness, and encouraged to reform. They
come voluntarily, and leave when they wish to do so. They are
always welcomed, however often they may wander back into sin.
“Until seventy times seven,” is the rule.
 Divorces
If you watch the daily papers you will frequently see
advertisements reading similar to the following:
Divorces without publicity, in 30 days, all causes; every state;
consultation free; experienced lawyers; success guaranteed. 86 ——
street.
SMITH, JONES & CO.
Divorces cheaply, without publicity; desertion, incompatibility, non-
support, intemperance, compulsory marriages; any state;
explanatory blanks free, always successful; consultations free;
confidential. 105 —— St.
LAWYER SMOOTH TONGUE.
The divorce lawyer is a prolific sort of a fellow, and somewhat of a
nuisance. No self-respecting attorney cares for divorce court
practice. It is considered by attorneys of established reputation to be
degrading.
The divorce lawyers announce to the public that they have
powerful influence with the judges and that it will be an easy matter
for them to secure a divorce for the unlucky man or woman and that
they can untie the marriage knot, and the guarantee to do it with
the ease and celerity with which it is tied. This would seem strange
in a state where the laws regulating divorce are so rigid; but the
divorce lawyer knows how to set even these at defiance, and that
his efforts are successful is shown by the handsome income he
enjoys and the elegant style in which he lives. He does not rely upon
Chicago alone for his field of operation; some states are more liberal
in this matter, and if the separation of husband and wife cannot be
procured in Chicago, he can easily accomplish it in some other part
of the Union.
The divorce lawyer devotes himself to this branch of his profession
almost exclusively. He is sometimes an ex-member of the Bar, who
has been disbarred for dishonest practices, and cannot appear
directly in the case himself. He hires some shyster lawyer to go
through the formalities of the courts for him, and sometimes
succeeds in inducing a lawyer of good standing to act for him. His
office is usually in the quarter most frequented to by practitioners of
standing, and is located in some large building, so that his clients
may come and go without attracting special notice. The outer office
is fitted up in regular legal style, with substantial desks and tables,
and the walls are lined with cases of law books. The private
consultation room is elegantly furnished, and is provided with the
coziest arm-chairs, in which the clients can sit at their ease, and
pour into the sympathizing ears of the “counsellor” their tales of
woe.
Let us seat ourselves, unseen, in the private office of a leading
divorce firm. They are located in a superb building on La Salle street
and have elegantly fitted up apartments. Counsellor ——, the head
of the firm, conducts the consultations. He is a portly, smooth-faced,
oily-tongued man, possessing great powers of cheek and
plausiveness, just the man to lead a hesitating client to take the
decisive step. A clerk from the outer office announces a visitor. A
richly dressed, closely veiled lady is shown in and the portly
counsellor, rising courteously, places a chair for her. The seat is
taken, the veil thrown back, and the counsellor finds himself face to
face with a woman of beauty and refinement, and evidently of
wealth—a most desirable client. In his blandest tones he invites her
to state the nature of her business with him. Then follows a long tale
of domestic unhappiness, the sum and substance of which is that
she is tired of her husband and wants a divorce from him.
“Upon what grounds, Madam?” asks the counsellor, settling down
to business.
 “Grounds?” is the startled, hesitating reply. “Why—t—hat is—I am
so unhappy with him.”
“Is he unfaithful to you?”
“I do not know. I hope he is—I am afraid not, however. I thought
you would ascertain for me.” “Certainly, madam, certainly. Nothing
easier in the world. We’ll find out all about him. We’ll learn the
innermost secrets of his heart, and I’ve no doubts we shall find him
grossly unfaithful. Most men are.”
“Oh, not at all, sir,” the lady cries, a little startled. “I’m sure that
——”
Good sense comes to her aid, and she pauses. She must not tell
all, even to her “legal adviser.” The counsellor smiles; he has seen
such cases before. It is only an affair of exchanging an old love for a
new one.
“Has he ever maltreated you—struck you?” he asks.
“Oh, no!”
“Never attempted any violence with you?”
“He once seized a paper weight on the library table, very much
excited, while I was talking with him.”
“Indeed! he tried to dash your brains out with a paper weight, did
he? That is very important evidence, madam, very important.”
“But, sir, I did not say that he——”
“Oh, never mind, madame. Wives are too ready to forgive their
husband’s brutality. The fact remains the same, however. This
infamous attempt upon your life will be sufficient evidence with the
western judge before whom the case will be tried. I congratulate
you, madame, upon the prospect of a speedy release from such a
monster.”
 The woman is delighted, pays the retainer, which is a handsome
one, agrees upon the amount to be paid when the divorce is
granted, and the parties separate, mutually pleased with each other.
The counsellor now goes to work in earnest. Operations are
carried on in some western state. Witnesses are provided who will
swear to anything they are paid for; the divorce is duly obtained; the
fee is paid; and the madame coolly informs her husband that they
are no longer husband and wife.
A year or two ago the Chicago paper contained an account of a
man who had gotten one of these patent divorces from his wife. Not
caring to part from her just then, but wishing to do so when he
pleased, he locked the papers up in his desk, and said nothing to her
about the matter, and for ten years she lived with him as his
mistress, in total ignorance of her true relations to him. At last
becoming tired of her, he produced the decree of divorce and left
her.
All sorts of people seek the assistance of the divorce lawyers to
free them from their matrimonial ties. Extravagant and reckless
wives of men who are not able to meet their demands for money;
dissolute actresses, who wish to break up an old alliance in order to
form a new one; married women who have become infatuated with
some scamp they have met at the theatre matinee, or through the
medium of a personal; married men who are tired of their wives and
desire to be united to a new partner; lovers of married women, who
come to engage fabricated testimony and surreptitious divorce for
the frail creatures whose virtue is still too cowardly to dare the more
honest sin; all who, with or without protest, seek a release from the
married bond. For each and all the divorce lawyer has a ready ear
and an encouraging word. Nothing is easier than to obtain a divorce,
he assures them. If the cause assigned by them is insufficient, it can
be made strong enough; if evidence is lacking, it can be obtained—
manufactured, if necessary. He receives a retainer from each, and
all, and sends them away with the happy consciousness that their
matrimonial troubles will soon be over.
 A divorce costs anywhere from twenty-five dollars to whatever
sum the applicant is willing to pay for it, and can be obtained in
Chicago, or in any state, according to the wishes of the party and
the desire to avoid publicity. Any cause may be assigned; the lawyer
in a great many instances guarantees that the evidence to support it
shall be forthcoming at the proper time. It is a little more
troublesome to obtain a Chicago divorce, than in some states, but
the machinery of the law is sufficiently loose even there to enable a
well-managed case to be successful. The divorce lawyer has
witnesses upon whom he can depend, some of them are regularly in
his pay. They will swear as they are instructed. The proceedings are
often private, the courts using their private chambers for the
hearing, and are no doubt frequently in collusion with the lawyer
conducting the case. Even the newspapers fail to record the
occurrence. The defendant has been kept in ignorance of the
proceedings, and naturally does not appear in court in person or by
counsel to offer any opposition and the case goes by default. The
judge hears the evidence, which has been carefully prepared, in the
case; submits a decision in favor of the plaintiff; and the first thing
the defendant knows is a dissolution of the marriage.
Adultery is a favorite ground with the divorce lawyer, and strange
as it may appear, it is easy to fasten such a charge upon the
defendant, if that person happens to be the husband. This is how it
is done: One of the “agents” of the firm makes the acquaintance of
the husband, who is in total ignorance of the plot against him, and
after becoming somewhat familiar with him, invites him to a quiet
little supper at some convenient restaurant. When the wine has done
its work, a party of ladies drop in, quite by accident, of course, and
are pressed by the agent to remain. The innocent victim joins in the
request; he would be an ill-bred fellow if he did not. A dead set is
made at the victim, whose wits are generally somewhat confused
with the wine, and the natural consequences follow. The “agent”
coolly looks on, and takes his notes, and the particular beauty who
has won over the victim to her charms becomes an important
witness in the case. There is no difficulty in proving the charge.
 Where the husband is a jolly, good-natured man, and loves to take
his pleasure, the “agent’s” business is greatly simplified. He has but
to shadow his victim, note down his acts, even his words, for the
most innocent deed can be distorted by a shrewd divorce lawyer into
damaging evidence of guilt. The least imprudence is magnified into
sin, and little by little all the needed evidence is obtained.
Sometimes all these arts fail. Then the lawyer has but one course,
to employ paid witnesses to swear to the husband’s guilt, where no
overt act has been committed. The divorce must be obtained at any
cost; and the lawyer knows no such word as failure.
Sometimes business becomes dull. People appear to be satisfied
with their partners, and applications for divorce fall off. The divorce
lawyer is equal to the emergency, however, and sets his agents to
work to drum up business. They proceed upon a regular system, and
seek high game. They operate among persons able to pay large
fees, and seek women as their victims in preference to men. A
member of the Bar, conversing with a friend, not long since, thus
explained the system pursued:
“You understand, of course, that society is not happy in all its
honors. All the brownstone houses have to have closets put in every
year in order to accommodate the skeletons. Still, many a woman
and man, if let alone, would bear his or her connubial burdens
meekly, rather than to face the scandal and publicity of a divorce
trial. Our special divorce lawyers know this, and so they invade
society. They transfer the base of operations to the drawing rooms.
How? By using swell members of the fashionable world to first find
out where there is a canker in the case, and then to deftly set forth,
in a perfect way, how divorce is the only ”cure.“ Nine-tenths of this
delicate business is employed in pursuing hesitating wives. Husbands
could hardly be approached in their own homes with a proposition to
break them up. Take an impressionable woman, already unhappy,
who has once been thinking of divorce, and the case is different.
She is clay for the moulder. The serpent whispers how nice it will be
to bank her alimony, tells her lies about the old man, induces her to
believe that the firm down-town will put in no bill if they don’t
succeed, and so the affair is arranged.
For this despicable service the “agent” receives ten per cent of the
fee paid the divorce lawyer by the wife, which fee, be it
remembered, comes out of the husband’s pocket.
Oftentimes the “agent” is called upon to personate the husband,
especially in serving the summons of the court upon him. The lawyer
in charge has the case quietly put on record in the proper court, and
has a summons prepared for service upon the defendant. A boy is
called in from the street, anybody will answer, and is paid a trifle to
take the summons to the defendant’s place of business or residence,
and deliver it to him in person. Arriving at his destination, the boy is
met by the “agent” of the divorce lawyer, at the door or on the
steps. The agent sharply demands his business, and is answered by
the boy that he wishes to deliver a paper to Mr. X—. “I am Mr. X—.”
The boy in perfect good faith, for he has never seen Mr. X— in his
life, delivers the summons upon the defendant in person. He is then
dismissed, and plays no further part in the case. His affidavit is
sufficient for this part of the proceedings, and the shameful mockery
of justice proceeds to another stage.
This is no exaggerated description. The acts of these divorce
lawyers are well know in Chicago, and members of the Bar are
familiar with their mode of proceeding. Reputable barristers
denounce them as a disgrace, not only to the profession, but also
the judges on the bench know these men by their ways. Yet, neither
the Bench nor the Bar Association make any effort to stop the evil or
disbar the wretches, who thus prey upon the most sacred relations
of life. Lawyers of standing are afraid to attempt to bring it to
justice, lest they should draw upon themselves the vengeance of the
courts and so injure their own professional prospects. So the evil will
continue to grow. It will flourish as long as there are foolish people
to take advantage of it.
 Tramps’ Paradise
Chicago is the paradise of tramps, the term is generally applied to
able bodied men and women who are too lazy to work, but prefer to
pick up a precarious living by begging food and clothes from house
to house. In mild weather they sleep in the parks and public
squares, and in winter take refuge in the police stations. During the
warm season they leave the city in large numbers, and wander
through the country, going into many states, but in winter they flock
back to Chicago, where they are sure of food and shelter. Some
remain in the city throughout the year. They are dissipated as a rule,
and the majority have been brought to their present condition
because of drink.
They will steal and even commit highway robbery, rape, or murder,
if they get a chance, and are a terror to householders of the city.
They haunt the beer saloons and low class bar-rooms, beg for
drinks, and will even drain the few drops left in the empty beer kegs
in the sidewalk. They will solicit passers-by for money, and in this
way often manage to collect enough to buy whisky or beer. Their
food they beg at the doors of residences, keeping a sharp lookout all
the while for an opportunity to steal something of value when the
servant’s back is turned.
The parks are the favorite lodging places with them in warm
weather. Under cover of darkness they creep into the shrubbery and
make their beds on the grass. Sometimes they sleep on the benches
scattered throughout the grounds, but as they are apt to be
disturbed by the police, they prefer the shrubbery.
The more fortunate tramps patronize the cheap lodging houses,
which are very numerous in some portions of the city. In some of
these places a bed may be obtained for five cents.
 Some of the more aristocratic places charge ten cents, and each
occupant is furnished with food in the morning. Nightly scores of
men and boys apply for lodging at the police stations.
Many deserving persons are classed among the tramps. They are
friendless, homeless, and without money or work and must adopt
the tramp’s life in order to maintain existence. Such persons gladly
accept any work offered them, and escape from the wretched
companionship as soon as they are able to do so.
It is easy to distinguish them from the genuine tramps, however,
for they are eager to work, while the tramp pure and simple, regards
an offer of labor as an insult.
 Theatres
Good and Bad.
In nothing does Chicago show its metropolitan character more
strikingly than in its amusements. At the head of these stand the
theatres, which are very numerous, and some magnificent. Among
the theatres of established reputation, are: McVickers, Powers,
Grand Opera House, Auditorium, Illinois, and others, which enjoy a
degree of substantiality. Besides these there are a number of
second-class variety establishments and several third-rate theatres in
different parts of the city. There are still other houses which are
vicious and should be closed by the police. These places have no
rating for decency and are pitfalls to the unsophisticated visitors in
the city. Burlesque is the principal amusement here, and is of the
lowest order. Absolute indecency reigns supreme. The performers,
mostly women of the underworld, are paid to amuse the audiences
by kicking up their heels—the higher they kick the more they are
paid. The “hooche-cooche” and the “Salome” dances are here given
in all their rottenness. Vulgar sayings and gestures are indulged in to
a degree that is amazing in this enlightened age. The theatres which
provide this class of entertainment are liberally supported by all
classes of men and receive an immense patronage from the great
throng of strangers constantly in Chicago. Old men and boys of
tender years are frequenters of these theatres, and here and there
may be found the prostitute seated beside some young boy. The
price of admission is low and the performance suited to the tastes of
the audience. These places have saloons attached to them which are
generally in the basements. The women performers are required to
drink with men, and solicit them boldly to buy drink for them. It is a
common thing to see these girls stupidly drunk. They are paid a
commission on all drinks purchased through their solicitation.
 The galleries of these establishments are filled chiefly with boot-
blacks, newsboys, and the juvenile denizens of the city, ranging in
age from eight to twelve years. The orchestras are made up of
amateurs and old men, and furnish a cheap class of music.
The keepers of houses of ill-fame need no better advertisement
than the cheap burlesque show-houses of Chicago. The baser
elements in man are all enacted here in plain view of the audience
and winked at by the police. Arrests are made, and the managers
pay fines, but continue the same immoral productions.
Perhaps the most remarkable dramatic establishment Chicago ever
had, was launched in the early eighties. It was known as “Grand
Duke’s Theatre,” or, it was better known to its patrons as “The Grand
Dooks Theatre.” It began its career in a vacant store building on
South State street in a very humble way; but with increasing
prosperity removed to more suitable quarters. The prices of
admission were as follows: Boxes, 25 cents; orchestra, 15 cents;
balcony, 10 cents; gallery, 5 cents. The establishment was managed
and controlled by boys and its audiences were composed of boys
and young men. The company was composed of youths yet in their
teens, and the performances were of the “blood-and-thunder” order,
interspersed with “variety acts” of a startling description. The house
and appointments were primitive, and the stage equally so. The
orchestra was made up of amateur musicians, and was placed out of
sight at the back of the stage. The footlights consisted of six
kerosene lamps with glass shades. Two red-plush lounges, stuffed
with saw-dust, and in a sad state of dilapidation served as boxes;
while the orchestra stalls were represented by half a dozen two-
legged benches, and the balcony and gallery were composed of a
bewildering arrangement of step ladders and dry-goods boxes. The
manager acted as his own policeman, and enforced order by
knocking the heads of disorderly spectators or by summarily ejecting
them. The performances were crude, but they satisfied the
audiences, and never failed to draw forth a storm of applause,
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