28 Dr. Hodgkin on the Importance of Studying and 



conferred ; but it is not in my power to engage your attention 

 in this department. There is another, the 3rd, which I shall 

 mention, which seems more associated with the studies of my 

 own profession ; this may be styled the physiological depart- 

 ment of philology. To this department belong the interesting 

 researches respecting the production of the vowel sounds, the 

 modification of the voice by the movements of the larynx and 

 the cooperation of the tongue, teeth, lips, and nose. It is not, 

 however, in this department that I propose seeking this even- 

 ing's occupation, yet I would remark in passing that there are 

 certain modifications of language which it seems necessary to 

 refer to this department, and which cannot fail to introduce a 

 difficult complication, and even serious errors, if they are al- 

 lowed to be blended with the points of inquiry which legiti- 

 mately belong to the next division which I shall have to no- 

 tice. I allude to certain modifications and transitions of sounds 

 which probably pervade all languages, as the result of physio- 

 logical or organic causes, rather than as proceeding from their 

 mutual relationship as branches of a particular stock. Although 

 it is not my intention to enter minutely into this question, I 

 shall offer a few examples by way of illustration : the substi- 

 tution of one letter for another is a modification of the kind 

 to which I am alluding. Thus the B is changed into a V in 

 converting the Latin Diabolus into the Italian Diavolo. A 

 similar change seems to have taken place with the modern 

 Greeks, who say vlvlos for biblos (j3ij3Aoj), and vasilefs for ba- 

 sileus (/3a<r»A£us). It may, however, be questioned whether this 

 is not the true ancient pronunciation preserved by the de- 

 scendants of the Greeks, from which other nations have se- 

 ceded, yet I am aware that there are strong reasons for doubt- 

 ing that this is the case. That this change is not a charac- 

 teristic of a particular stock in language, but rather one of 

 those changes which may be common to them all, and be refer- 

 rible to some physical cause, maybe inferred from the fact that a 

 similar substitution is to be found on the north coast of Africa 

 amongst persons who speak Arabic*. I observed this in a 



fentleman from Morocco, and I found that his substitution of 

 \ for V, — which I think he made reciprocally, so that he would 

 have said « Biridicertatvaccabenafro,' — was connected with a 

 deficiency in the perception of the sounds of these two letters. 

 He could distinguish no difference between Bacca and Vacca. 

 The substitution of V for W and W for V, which is so cha- 

 racteristic of the vulgar London pronunciation, seems to be 



* I have noticed several instances of the similar substitution of one let- 

 ter for another in the vocabularies of different dialects of the Polynesian 

 language. 



