58 THE DESCENT OF MAN. [Part L 



mologies due to community of descent, and analogies due 

 to a similar process of formation. The manner in which 

 certain letters or sounds change when others change is 

 very like correlated growth. We have in both cases the 

 reduplication of parts, the effects of long-continued use, 

 and so forth. The frequent presence of rudiments, both in 

 languages and in species, is still more remarkable. The 

 letter m in the word am, means I • so that in the expres- 

 sion lam, a superfluous and useless rudiment has been re- 

 tained. In the spelling also of words, letters often remain 

 as the rudiments of ancient forms of pronunciation. Lan- 

 guages, like organic beings, can be classed in groups under 

 groups ; and they can be classed either naturally, accord- 

 ing to descent, or artificially by other characters. Domi- 

 nant languages and dialects spread widely and lead to the 

 gradual extinction of other tongues. A language, like a 

 species, when once extinct, never, as Sir C. Lyell remarks, 

 reappears. The same language never has two birthplaces. 

 Distinct languages may be crossed or blended together. 43 

 We see variability in every tongue, and new words are 

 continually cropping up ; but as there is a limit to the 

 powers of the memory, single words, like whole languages, 

 gradually become extinct. As Max Miiller 44 has well re- 

 marked : " A struggle for life is constantly going on among 

 the words and grammatical forms in each language. The 

 better, the shorter, the easier forms are constantly gaining 

 the upper hand, and they owe their success to their own 

 inherent virtue." To these more important causes of the 

 survival of certain words, mere novelty may, I think, be 

 added ; for there is in the mind of man a strong love for 

 slight changes in all things. The survival or preservation 



43 See remarks to this effect by the Rev. F. W. Farrar, in an "interest- 

 ing article, entitled " Philology and Darwinism," in ' Nature,' March 24, 

 1870, p. 528. 



44 'Nature,' Jan. 6, 1870, p. 257. 



