142 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which describe it. The stem, when fresh and young, has a sweet, nutty flavor, 

 very similar to tliat of the hazel-nut. Its flavor is so agreeable, that I am fond 

 of chewing the fresh stems. From this peculiarity, in connection with its mova- 

 ble ring, its form and colors, I deem it a perfectly safe species to recommend for 

 collecting." 



Dr. Curtis says, however, that the same species varies very much 

 in flavor in different regions, owing probably to differences of soil, expos- 

 ure, shade, moisture, or temperature. He has found perfectly sound 

 pink-gills witli unpleasant odor and taste, and horse-mushrooms that 

 were " perfectly detestable." But, wliether such exceptional specimens 

 are poisonous or not, he thinks of no consequence, because no human 

 being could be induced to swallow them. 



AEE LANGUAGES INSTITUTIONS? 



Br "W. D. WHITNEY, 



PEOFESSOK IN TALE COLLEGE. 



WHILE the present century has witnessed a truly wonderful 

 advance in the study of languages, it has not yet yielded 

 equal results for the science of language. Comparative philology 

 has thus far borne off the palm over linguistics. The classifications 

 of human speech, the historical development and divarication of lan- 

 guages, the processes of phonetic change, are understood to a degi'ee 

 of v.'hich our fathers had no conception ; but the coordination and 

 explanation of all these facts, the recognition of the forces whose 

 workings underlie and produce them, and of the ways in which those 

 forces act on such subjects there is far from being that gecei'al 

 agreement of opinion wiiich ought to mark a matured branch of 

 stud}^ 



To quote a few instances: while the Boppian view of the making 

 of grammatical forms by collocation, combination, and integration of 

 originally independent elements, may be regarded as the leading and 

 orthodox one in the modern school of philology, there yet are scholars 

 of rank who deny it, and assert, instead, that endings were created in 

 their separate entity and oftice along Avith the bases to which they 

 are attached, or sprouted out from the latter by the Avorking of some 

 mysterious internal force. Most linguistic scholars hold that the de- 

 velopment of a grammatical system has been a work of ages, always 

 going on and never finished ; but at least one celebrated and admired 

 authority declares the whole essential structure of a language to be 

 produced " at a single stroke." It is the prevailing belief that the 

 world is filled everywhere with families of related dialects, and that 

 a family of languages, as of individuals or of races, arises by the dis- 



