colligation

These therefore the midwife cutteth off, contriving them into a knot close unto the body of the Infant; from whence ensueth that tortuosity or complicated nodosity we usually call the Navell; occasioned by the colligation of the vessels before mentioned.

In order to have knowledge of the physical world, we use our ideas and concepts as the "thread" on which we string the facts about the world, the "pearls." We do this by a process Whewell called colligation.