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words, but proceed from words to things, and thus earn for our studies the name of a science. It has been too long the humble employment of philologists to study the anatomy of languages only; they have, of late, fortunately begun to inquire into their physiology also, and soon, it is hoped, the genius of a language, its spiritual essence, will no longer be the veiled image of Saïs. The philologist has, in such studies as these, three duties to perform. He must first trace the present forms of words in modern languages up to the living roots of ancient languages, and go as far back as he can, applying always the great laws which govern the formation and the subsequent changes of words. This branch is commonly called Etymology. He must, secondly, inquire into the reasons why such forms, and no others, have been chosen to express such ideas. Proceeding from the fundamental truth, that in the working of the divine mind of man, nothing is casual or arbitrary, he must try to trace the correspondence between the outer form and the inner meaning-between word and idea, and thus engage in the doctrine of sounds. His last inquiry will be directed to the changes and alterations which these forms have undergone, through the agency of various influences from without and within; he will ask when and how they took place? and establish both the time and the first cause upon such principles as constitute the branch of this science which has lately become best known as Linguistique.

When a language has been thus investigated and illustrated, the philologist can proceed to the higher branches of his science. Having the material all before him, clear and transparent in all its aspects, he will now be able to judge how far each idiom has

fitted itself and become capable of fulfilling the great purposes of language generally, and to what extent it may contribute, within its range, to the higher purposes of life. Only then can the study of languages be called a science, when it desires knowledge not merely for practical use, nor even for the higher purposes of literature only, but as an aid in the lofty vocation of man, the never-ceasing search for truth and light.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

METHODS OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY.

No Language original and unmixed-Historical School-Lexical School-Fatal Errors-Critical School.

VARIOUS methods have been pursued in these researches, but all are based upon one common principle, that no language, by itself, is sufficient to explain its own nature and character. The circle of no idiom is complete, because no idiom that is known to us has arisen simply and solely from a certain number of roots. On the contrary, all languages of the earth have been, and are still, in unceasing intercourse with each other, not to speak of the thousand delicate fibres by which they all are connected with their common ancestors. Hence the absolute necessity of a comparative study of languages. History has taught us, from time immemorial, that no part of the globe is so remote and inaccessible that it could not have obtained its language from elsewhere. What does modern science know

No LANGUAGE UNMIXED.

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of the time when England and Sweden formed part of the European continent? What does it altogether know of the former distribution of land and water on our globe? How little, then, can we judge, from present appearances, or from historical records, of the relation in which races and their idioms, now separated by oceans or continents, may once have stood to each other! The presumption is, that no modern language is quite pure and unmixed, as all of them were first spoken by some race of men, as unwilling to stay at home at a time when nations travelled from world to world, as unable to resist entirely the constant pressure of new waves of migration. Whether they exchanged their home for distant countries, or were invaded and subdued in the land of their fathers, their language must necessarily have undergone frequent and important changes. Even the mere circumstance of geographical proximity has a powerful effect upon idioms, although they may belong to entirely different families. The neglect of this fact has often misled otherwise accurate observers, who saw in such accidental effects the result of original relationship. Thus the Magyar owed to its admixture of elements borrowed from neighboring races, its once assumed Indo-European character. The Lettic is so filled with Slavic elements, that it has often been called a Sclavic tongue; and even the apparently most unimpressive Chinese, shows in the dialect of Peking marked traces of the Tungusian, acquired by frequent intercourse with near neighbors.

Hence the first rule in the study of languages: to inquire into the connection of each idiom with others, as long as any trace of such relationship is perceptible, and to pursue these investigations into every part of the idiom, its words, grammati

cal forms, and general nature. For this purpose, the grammatical elements, especially, the analogies in form, and meaning of inflections, are made the principal subject of inquiry. This is the system now generally adopted, and most successfully adopted by Bopp and his school. It is the only possible one, in the comparison of languages which belong to the same family, but are historically and geographically so far apart as, for instance, the German and the Sanscrit. The result is a clear exposition of the etymological origin and development of the analogous grammatical forms in these idioms. It does not show, however, the historical connection between them, or their relation to each other in point of time.

To this subject the so-called Historical School pays more exclusive attention. It endeavors to show the different use which a language made, at various times, of certain elements, and, if possible, the very period of transition, when one use was given up, and another substituted for it. Upon this historical basis it then establishes the analogies of the secondary language with others of the same epoch. It is this school which has first and triumphantly established the great law, that all languages were formed by nations in a migratory state, when those, who spoke them, were hunters, herdsmen, or warriors. Then only were all words vernacular, and there must be sought for the original relationship of idioms. The earlier the specimens of any modern language are, the more strikingly will they exhibit their affinity and analogy with others, because then its elements and forms are still in their simplest state, unaffected by all the various influences that were subsequently brought to bear upon them. Hence, the nearer we approach the source from which the

DIFFERENT SCHOOLS.

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mighty river of a national idiom takes its first rise, the purer the water; the more remote the period at which we study a language, the less disturbed it appears in its original structure. It is by such a process of investigation that foreigners have succeeded in giving England the best works on the vernacular portion of her language. The Latin and French, as far as it exists in English, are sufficiently well known, and the origin of such words can easily be traced; but the original and most important part of English is derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and can only be satisfactorily understood and illustrated by the aid of a thorough knowledge of that idiom. Whilst English scholars neglected this important truth, the learned Rask devoted all his time and vast erudition to the study of Saxon, because he considered it indispensable for his researches in Danish; and German authors did the same, from a conviction, that without a knowledge of Anglo-Saxon, they could not satisfactorily explain the older forms of their own tongue.

Formerly philologists limited their researches almost entirely to the study of the material of languages; and the socalled Lexical School bestows, even now, its attention principally on words and forms only. A mere comparison of words is, by those who follow this method, considered sufficient, upon the principle that words form the substance of language, whilst they hold grammar to be only its form or fashion. The talent and the perseverance of distinguished men who formed this school, have produced astonishing results, whatever may be now thought of the vast superiority of a combination of the critical systems with the lexical. The success of the latter has, necessarily, been most striking where it has been brought to