434 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



all other scholars in this field, have been absolutely forced to 

 accept, I shall endeavor to show in this chapter. 



The beginnings of a true and scientific theory seemed weak 

 indeed, but they were none the less effective. As far back as 1661, 

 Hottinger, professor at Heidelberg, came into the chorus of theo- 

 logians like a great bell in a chime ; but like a bell whose opening 

 tone is harmonious, and whose closing tone is discordant. For 

 while, at the beginning, Hottinger cites a formidable list of great 

 scholars who had held the sacred theory of the origin of language, 

 and here was in harmony with the chorus, he goes on to note a 

 closer resemblance to the Hebrew in some languages than in 

 others, and explains this by declaring that the confusion of 

 tongues was of two sorts, total and partial : the Arabic and Chal- 

 daic he thinks underwent only a partial confusion ; the Egyptian, 

 Persian, and all the European languages a total one : here comes 

 in the discord ; here gently sounds forth from the great chorus a 

 new note that idea of grouping and classifying languages which 

 at a later day was to destroy utterly the whole sacred theory. 



But the great chorus resounded on, as we have seen, from 

 shore to shore, until the closing years of the seventeenth century ; 

 then arose men who silenced it forever. The first leader who 

 threw the weight of his knowledge, thought, and authority against 

 it was Leibnitz, the rival of Isaac Newton. He declared, " There 

 is as much reason for supposing Hebrew to have been the primi- 

 tive language of mankind as there is for adopting the view of 

 Goropius, who published a work at Antwerp in 1580 to prove that 

 Dutch was the language spoken in paradise." In a letter to Ten- 

 zel, Leibnitz wrote, " To call Hebrew the primitive language is 

 like calling the branches of a tree primitive branches, or like 

 imagining that in some country hewn trunks could grow instead 

 of trees." He also asked very cogently, " If the primeval language 

 existed even up to the time of Moses, whence came the Egyptian 

 language ? " 



But the efficiency of Leibnitz did not end with mere sugges- 

 tions. He applied the inductive method to linguistic study, and 

 made great efforts to have vocabularies collected and grammars 

 drawn up wherever missionaries and travelers came in contact 

 with new races. He thus succeeded in giving the initial impulse 

 to at least three notable collections that of Catharine the Great, 

 of Russia ; that of the Spanish Jesuit, Lorenzo Hervas ; and, at a 

 later period, the Mithridates of Adelung. The interest of the 

 Empress Catharine in her collection of linguistic materials was 

 very strong, and her influence is seen in the fact that Washing- 

 ton, to please her, requested governors and generals to send in 

 materials from various parts of the United States and Territories. 

 The work of Hervas extended over the period from 1735 to 1809 ; 



