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lævis.* In German, the construction of sentences indicating generic or other characters is sometimes so obscure that I have found it impossible, in certain cases, to have them put into Latin by a German, a good botanist, who was better acquainted than myself with both languages. It would be still worse if authors had not introduced many words purely Latin into their language. But, exclusive of paragraphs relative to characters, and wherever successive phenomena or theories are in question, the superiority of modern languages is unquestionable. It is on this account that, even in natural history, Latin is every day less employed.

The loss, however, of the link formerly established between scientific men of all countries has made itself felt. From this has arisen a very chimerical proposal to form some artificial language which should be to all nations what writing is to the Chinese. It was to be based on ideas-not words. The problem has remained quite devoid of solution; and even were it possible, it would be so complicated an affair-so impracticable and inflexible-that it would quickly drop into disuse.

The wants and the circumstances of each epoch have brought about a preference for one or other of the principal European languages as a means of communication between enlightened men of all countries. French rendered this service during two centuries. At present varicus causes have modified the use of this language in other countries, and the habit has been almost everywhere introduced that each nation should employ its own tongue. We have, therefore, entered upon a period of confusion. What is thought to be new in one country is not so to those who read books in other languages. It is vain to study living languages more and more; you are always behindhand in the complete knowledge of what is being published in other countries. Few persons are acquainted with more than two languages; and if we try to pass beyond a certain limit in this respect, we rob ourselves of time for other things; for there is a point at which the study of the means of knowledge hinders our learning. Polyglot discussions and conversations do not answer the intentions of those who attempt them. I an persuaded that the inconvenience of such a state of things will be more and more felt. I also believe, judging by the example of Greek as used by the Romans and French in modern times, that the need of a prevailing language is almost always recognized; it is returned to from necessity after each period of anarchy. To understand this we must consider the causes which make a language preferable, and those which spread its employment in spite of any defects it may possess.

Thus, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, motives existed for the employment of French in preference to Latin throughout Europe. It was a language spoken by the greater part of the educated men of

* The word glaber, in botany, means bald or not hairy, which is applied to other parts as well as the head; and lavis, smooth, not rough; but I know they have both been carelessly translated "smooth," as M. de Candolle implies.-J. E. G.

the period-a language tolerably simple and very clear. It had an advantage in its resemblance to Latin, which was then widely known. An Englishman, a German, was already half acquainted with French through his knowledge of Latin; a Spaniard, an Italian, was three parts advanced in his study of the language. If a discussion were sustained in French, if books were written or translations made in this language, all the world understood.

In the present century, civilization has much extended north of France, and population has increased there more than to the south. The use of the English tongue has been doubled by its extension into America. The sciences are more and more cultivated in Germany, in England, in the Scandinavian countries, and Russia. The scientific center of gravity has advanced from the south toward the north.

Under the influence of these new conditions, a language can only become predominant by presenting two characters: first, it must possess sufficient German and Latin words or forms to be within reach at once of the Germans and of the people who make use of Latin tongues; secondly, it must be spoken by a considerable majority of civilized people. In addition to these two essential conditions, it would be well for the definitive success of a language that it should also possess the qualities of grammatical simplicity, of conciseness, and clearness.

English is the only language which may, in fifty or a hundred years offer all these conditions united.

The language is half German and half Latin. It possesses German, words, German forms, and also French words, and a French method of constructing sentences. It is a transition between the principal languages used at present in science, as French was formerly between Latin and several of the modern languages.

The future extension of the Anglo-American tongue is evident. It will be rendered inevitable by the movement of the populations in the two hemispheres. Here is the proof, which it is easy to give in a few words and a few figures.

At the present time the population stands thus, (Almanach de Gotha, 1871:*)

English-speaking peoples in England, 31,000,000; in the United States, 40,000,000; in Canada, &c., 4,000,000; in Australia and New Zealand, 2,000,000; total, 77,000,000.

German-speaking peoples in Germany and a portion of Austria, 60,000,000; in Switzerlaud, (German cantons,) 2,000,000; total, 62,000,000. French-speaking peoples in France, 36,500,000; in Belgium, (French) portion,) 2,500,000; in Switzerland, (French cantons,) 500,000; in Algeria and the colonies, 1,000,000; total 40,500,000.

Now, judging by the increase that has taken place in the present cen tury, we may estimate the probable growth of population as follows: †

No notice is here taken of the English-speaking people in India and the East.-J. E. G. + Almanach de Gotha, 1870, p. 1039.

In England it doubles in fifty years; therefore, in a century (in 1970) it will be 124,000,000. In the United States, in Canada, in Australia, it doubles in twenty-five; therefore it will be 736,000,000. Probable total of the English-speaking race in 1970, 860,000,000.

In Germany the northern population doubles in fifty-six to sixty years; that of the south in one hundred and sixty-seven years. Let us suppose one hundred years for the average. It will probably be, in 1970, for the countries of German speech, about 124,000,000.

In the French speaking countries the population doubles in about one hundred and forty years. In 1970, therefore, it will probably amount to 69,500,000.

Thus the three principal languages spoken at the present time will be spoken a century hence with the following progression:

The English tongue will have increased from 77 to 860 millions.
The German tongue will have increased from 62 to 124 millions.
The French tongue will have increased from 40 to 693 millions.

The individuals speaking German will form a seventh part, and those speaking French a twelfth or thirteenth part of those of English tongue; and both together will not form a quarter of the individuals speaking English. The German or French countries will then stand toward those of English speech as Holland or Sweden do at present with regard to themselves. I am far from having exaggerated the growth of the Anglo-Australian-American populations. Judging by the surface of the countries they occupy, they will long continue to multiply in large proportion. The English language is, besides, more diffused than any other throughout Africa and Southern Asia. America and Australia are not, I confess, countries in which the culture of letters and sciences is so much advanced as in Europe; and it is probable that, for a length of time, agriculture, commerce, and industry will absorb all the most active energies. I acknowledge this. But it is no less a fact that so considerable a mass of intelligent and educated men will weigh decisively on the world in general. These new peoples, English in origin, are mingled with a German element, which, in regard to intellectual inclinations, counterbalances the Irish. They have generally a great eagerness for learning and for the application of discoveries. They readmuch. Works written in English or translated into that tongue would, in a vast population, have a very large sale. This would be an encouragement for authors and translators that is offered by neither the French nor the German language. We know in Europe to what degree difficulties exist in the publication of books on serious subjects; but open an immense mart to publishers, and works on the most special subjects will have a sale. When translations are read by ten times as many people as at present, it is evident that a greater number of books will be translated; and this will contribute in no small degree toward the preponderance of the English language. Many French people already buy English translations of German books, just as Italians buy transla

tions in French. If English or American publishers would adopt the idea of having translations made into their language of the best works that appear in Russian, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, &c., they would satisfy a public dispersed over the whole world, and particularly the numerous Germans who understand English. Yet we are but at the beginning of the numerical preponderance of the English-speaking populations.

The nature of a language does not, at first sight, appear to have very great influence on its diffusion. French was preferred for two centuries; and yet Italian was quite as clear, more elegant, more harmonious, had more affinity with Latin, and, for a length of time, had possessed a remarkable literature. The number, the activity of the French, and the geographical position of their country were the causes of their preponderance. Yet the qualities of a language, especially those preferred by the moderns, are not without their influence. At the present time briefness, clearness, grammatical simplicity are admired. Nations, at least those of our Indo-European race, began by speaking in an obscure, complicated manner; in advancing they have simplified and made their language more precise. Sanscrit and Basque, two very ancient languages, are exceedingly complicated. Greek and Latin are so in less degree. The languages derived from Latin are clothed in clearer and simpler forms. I do not know how philosophers explain the phenomenon of the complication of language at an ancient period; but it is unquestionable. It is more easy to understand the subsequent simplifications. When a more easy and convenient method of acting or speaking has been arrived at, it is naturally preferred. Besides, civilization encourages individual activity; and this necessitates short words and short sentences. The progress of the sciences, the frequent contact of persons speaking different languages, and who find a difficulty in understanding each other, lead to a more and more imperious need for clearness. You must have received a classical education to avoid the perception of absurdity in the construction of an ode of Horace. Translate it literally to an uneducated workman, keeping each word in its place, and it will have to him the effect of a building the entrance-door of which is on the third story. It is no longer a possible language, even in poetry.

Modern languages have not all, to the same degree, the advantages now demanded, of clearness, simplicity, and briefness.

The French language has shorter words and less complicated verbs than the Italian; this in all probability has contributed to its success. The German has not undergone the modern revolution by which each sentence or portion of a sentence begins with the principal word. Words are also cut in two, and the fragments dispersed. It has three genders, whereas French and Italian have but two. The conjugations of many verbs are rather complicated. Nevertheless, modern tendencies weigh with the Germans, and it is evident that their language is becoming a little modified. Scientific authors especially exert themselves to attempt

the direct modes of expression and the short phrases of other countries in the same way that they have abandoned the Gothic printed letters. Should they correspond with strangers, they often have the politeness to write in Latin characters. They willingly introduce in their publications terms taken from foreign languages, modifications sometimes merely of form, occasionally fundamental. These attest the modern spirit and the enlightened judgment of the learned men so numerous in Germany. Unhappily, the modifications of form have no great importance, and the fundamental changes take place very slowly.

The more practical English language shortens sentences and words. It willingly takes possession of foreign words, as German does; but of cabriolet it makes cab; of memorandum it makes mem. It makes use only of indispensable and natural tenses-the present, the past, the future, and the conditional. There is no arbitrary distinction of genders; animated objects are masculine or feminine; the others are neuter. The ordinary construction is so sure to begin with the principal idea, that in conversation you may often dispense with the necessity of finishing your sentences. The chief fault of the English language, its inferiority in comparison with German or Italian, consists in an orthog raphy absolutely irregular, and so absurd that children take a whole year in learning to read. The pronunciation is not well articulated, not well defined. I shall not go as far as Madame Sand in her amusing imprecations on this point; but there is truth in what she says. The vowels are not distinct enough. But, in spite of these faults, English, according to the same clever writer, is a well-expressed language, quite as clear as any other, at least when English people choose to revise their MMS., which they will not always do, they are in such a hurry! English terms are adapted to modern wants. Do you wish to hail a vessel, to cry "stop" to a train, to explain a machine, to demonstrate an experiment in physics, to speak in few words to busy and practical people, it is the language par excellence. In comparison with Italian, with French, and, above all, with German, English has the effect, to those who speak several languages, of offering the shortest cut from one point to another. I have observed this in families where two languages are equally well known, which often occurs in Switzerland. When the two languages are German and French, the latter almost always carries the day. "Why?" I asked of a German-Swiss estab lished in Geneva. "I can scarcely tell you," he replied; "at home we speak German to exercise my son in the languages, but he always falls back into the French of his comrades. French is shorter-more convenient." Before the events of 1870, a great Alsatian manufacturer sent his son to study at Zürich. I was curious to know the reason why. "We cannot," he said, "induce our children to speak German, with slowness with which intelligent English children Each letter has several sounds, or you may say It is therefore necessary to learn reading word

Surprised, on one occasion, by the learned reading, I inquired the reason. that each sound is written in several ways. for word. It is an affair of memory.

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