ENGLISH PHONOLOGY. 387 



of lag, fell in 188G to the low measure of twenty-five inches, is likely 

 to continue small for a year or more to come. " Expect a . . . period 

 of drouf^ht . . . about . . . this . . , time." The increasing precipita- 

 tion following should reach its maximum soon after the beginning of 

 the last cycle of the century. Maxima, or wet periods, may also be 

 predicated for the years 1903 or '04, 1913 and '14, and 1924 or '25 ; 

 and low, or dry periods, for 1895 or '96, 1909 and 1919 or '20, or 

 ' thereabouts.' " 



Following these leads, lake and river levels will rise to their cul- 

 minations, it is probable, about 1894, 1906, 1916, and 1927 or '28, and 

 fall to low levels about 1888 or '89, 1899, 1912 or '13, and 1921 or '22. 



None need be surprised if the remaining years of the century wit- 

 ness disasters to the husbandman from drought and frosts, and to the 

 business man from commercial disasters and stagnation in trade. 



The new century, though opening with cold and wet, gives prom- 

 ise, in its first cycle, of returning general prosperity, inaugurated by 

 abundant crops, and — if the nation be wise — by freer trade, restored 

 commerce, satisfied wages, and solid wealtli. Blessed be the sun-spots ! 



ENGLISH PHONOLOGY. 



Bt THEO. H. KELLOGG, M. D. 



LANGUAGES, like nations, have their growth and decay. Their 

 evolutionary phases have, in many instances, after much learned 

 research been clearly traced. A living language, however complete a 

 development it may have attained, never preserves for any great length 

 of time precisely the same grammatical structure or phonetic charac- 

 ter, but it undergoes constant changes both of form and of sound. 



The formative stages are usually attended by the most active or- 

 ganic alterations, and the decided mutations of the old, middle, and 

 modern English periods are familiar to the linguistic student. 



Within the last century, however, there have been no like radical 

 changes in the English tongue, although many terms and phrases have 

 become obsolete, and hosts of new words and expressions, chiefly 

 technical and scientific, have been added. This permanency in the 

 outer forms of the language has favored a greater uniformity in its 

 elementary sounds. In England, at the present time, apart from the 

 dialects confined chiefly to the ignorant in the various shires, and 

 overlooking the slightly individual variations such as have existed at 

 all times and in all languages, there may be said to be a uniform pro- 

 nunciation of the mother-tongue among the educated classes. Even 

 slight departures from this generally accepted orthoepical standard, 

 especially if they occur in the original elements of the language, 

 strike the ear in an unfamiliar way like the sounds of a foreign 



