32 Dr. Hodgkin on the Importance of Studying and 



of almost every other science except that of Philology in its 

 most comprehensive sense. The precious materials with which 

 alone this fabric can be constructed are like the fleeting mo- 

 ments of time itself, which are removing them irrevocably from 

 our research. It becomes therefore a matter of very serious 

 consideration for those who feel the importance of Philology, 

 or rather of that branch of it with which we are now occupied, 

 to bring into its service without delay all the available strength 

 which can be mustered. 



I must confess that my object in bringing this paper before 

 my fellow members of the Philological Society has been to 

 submit to their judgement certain measures which I have been 

 led to believe might, with their sanction and support, be made 

 very successfully to conduce to the investigation of this branch 

 of Philology as well as to other researches intimately con- 

 nected with it. 



Before I proceed to offer these suggestions it may not be 

 amiss to take a superficial survey of the present state of the 

 subject, in order that we may have before us, not only the 

 vast extent of the present deficiency, but also some of the 

 grounds of encouragement which prompt to perseverance not- 

 withstanding the apparent discouragement which exists. 



I shall adopt as the basis of this sketch the tabular view 

 which is given by my excellent friend Dr. Prichard, which, 

 although it requires alteration in some points, is, I apprehend, 

 the most correct general survey that we at present possess # . 



From this table it appears that the Indo-European, the 

 Western Asiatic, the Northern Asiatic and Eastern European, 

 and the Chinese and Indo-Chinese, including those known to 

 have existed as distinct, with those which at present do so, com- 

 prise nearly two hundred nations, to which we may ascribe 

 forty-one languages, besides many which are unknown or not 

 mentioned. 



According to the same authority we are at present moreorless 

 acquainted with upwards of forty different African races, several 

 of which are numerously subdivided. There are above twenty 

 ascertained languages, and of some of these there appear to be 

 various dialects ; and it is admitted that there are besides thirty- 

 eight languages wholly unknown to us. Amongst the com- 

 paratively recent attempts to increase our knowledge of the 

 African languages, I may mention that my friend Jomard, a 

 member of the French Institute and one of the Commission 



* [A summary classification of languages purporting to carry still further 

 their natural and ethnographical arrangement, has been given by Mr. Beke, 

 in his Origines BibliceE, ch. x. p. 231 — 235, and also in his * Views in Eth- 

 nography, &c* published in Jameson's New Edinburgh Phil. Journ. for 

 April last. — Edit.] 



