In this paper we show that for n-th order languages L′ with p nonlogical constants, 2 ≦ n < ω, 0 ≦ p < ω, a notion of satisfaction can be defined in an n-th order language containing one additional nonlogical constant, say S. By the usual methods we also show that this notion cannot be defined in L′. Hence, in its present formulation, Beth's Theorem in [1] for first order languages has no analogue for L′.

Our defining expression is such that, given any values of the other nonlogical constants and any appropriate m-tuple, it allows us to determine whether or not the m-tuple belongs to the value S of S without considering the totality of objects which are of the same type as S. Whether every definition in an n-th order language is equivalent to one thus “predicative”, and hence whether there is a formulation of Beth's Theorem which generalizes to higher orders, we do not know.

The falsehood for L′ of the analogue of Beth's Theorem implies the falsehood of an analogue of an interpolation theorem for first order languages. The above definability of satisfaction for L′ implies a result on finite axiomatizability in slightly richer languages. Details are given in § 4.