Sanscrit Writing and Language. 121 



speech ; but in that language it has no meaning, and, consequently, still fails to 

 supply us with a dhdtu ; as soon as ever we amplify it sufficiently to have a 

 meaning, it is immediately restricted to some particular part of speech, and to 

 some particular form of that part. In short, as far as I am aware of, there is no 

 language, unconnected with the Sanscrit, in which there is to be found a set of 

 words of the same kind as the Indian dhdtus ; and whoever impartially considers 

 the matter, must, if I mistake not, perceive, that these creatures of the imagina- 

 tion, or, as it were, metaphysico-grammatic pegs for hanging words upon, never 

 could have had their rise in the practice of any nation ; and that their production 

 Is attributable solely to some class of Individuals who had far more leisure and 

 and less common sense than fall to the share of the great body of mankind. 



In the third place, the total transformations which the roots of words occa- 

 sionally undergo in Sanscrit sentences, manifestly show design on the part of 

 those who introduced them ; — design which Is incompatible with the supposition 

 of their having originated in a natural way. In all natural changes of language 

 by which new dialects are produced, the newly adopted modifications of words 

 have arisen from causes Independent of human forethought, and are to be 

 ascribed to the influence of external circumstances operating on the organs of 

 speech, the sense of hearing, and the Instinctive energies of man, rather than on 

 his intellect or will. This, I apprehend, may be fairly inferred from the savage 

 character of those by whom such changes are brought about, and from the consi- 

 deration that a great alteration in the grammatical frame-work of a language has 

 never been suddenly effected in a civilized state of society. Thus the transition 

 from Latin to Italian Is due to savages who took no interest in philological 

 speculations, but were wholly intent upon fighting and plunder ; as soon as they 

 became a little civilized, and capable of reflexion, an end was put to all further 

 violent innovation in the structure of their speech.* But however devoid of 



* The power which alphabetic writing exerts in preserving the grammatic structure of a language 

 is strikingly illustrated by the above example. What space of time was occupied in completing the 

 transition from Latin to Italian cannot now be exactly ascertained ; but it undoubtedly was very 

 short in comparison with the previous duration of the older dialect, or the age which the subsequent 

 one has since attained to. The savages who effected this transition could neither read nor write 

 (and if the nation they conquered had sunk into equal ignorance, the difference between the ancient 

 VOL. XVIII. « 



