 These insights appear to anticipate that application of Russell’s Theory of Descriptions in which it is used to eliminate grammatical names in favour of quantified general sentences. Whether or not this is actually the origin of that theory, there is no doubt in another case: Russell, who claimed in correspondence to have read Principles closely, acknowledged openly that he was convinced by Bradley’s argument that the logical form of universal sentences is hypothetical (so that, e.g., ‘All cows eat grass’ is to be understood as saying ‘If anything is a cow then it eats grass’). In this way, Bradley had a significant, if indirect, impact on predicate calculus. His role as a precursor of modern logic should not be overemphasized, however, since he acknowledges that the interpretation of universal sentences as hypothetical was suggested to him by his reading of Herbart.