74 NOTES. 



D. 



The term (degeneration of language) includes two 

 very distinct things ; the one is degeneration of 

 grammatical form, the other degeneration of the 

 language as an instrument of thought. The former 

 is a far commoner phenomenon than the latter, and, 

 in fact, whilst actually degenerating so far as gram- 

 matical complexity is concerned, a language may be 

 at the same time becoming more and more service- 

 able, or more and more perfect as an organ having a 

 particular function. The decay of useless inflexions 

 and the consequent simplification of language may 

 be compared to the specialization of the one toe of 

 the primitively five-toed foot of the horse, whilst 

 the four others which existed in archaic horses are, 

 one by one, atrophied. Taken by itself, this pheno- 

 menon may possibly be described as degeneration, 

 but inasmuch as the whole horse is not degenerate 

 but, on the contrary, specialized and elaborated, it is 

 advisable to widely distinguish such local atrophy 

 from general degeneration. In the same way Ian- 



