242 ON A DOMINANT LANGUAGE FOR SCIENCE. 



lu Englaud it doubles in fifty years ; therefore, in a century (in 1070) 

 it will be 124,000,000. In the United States, in Canada, in Australia, it 

 doubles in twenty -five ; therefore it will be 730,000,000. Probable total 

 of the English-speaking race in 1970, 860,000,000. 



In German}' the northern population doubles in fifty-six to sixty years; 

 that of the south in one hundred and sixty-seven years. Let us sup- 

 pose one hundred years for the average. It will probably be, in 1070, 

 for the countries of German speech, about 124,000,000. 



In the French speaking countries the population doubles in about 

 one hundred and forty years. In 1070, therefore, it will probably 

 amount to 00,500,000. 



Thus the three principal languages spoken at the present time will be 

 spoken a century hence with the following progression : 



The English tongue will have increased from 77 to 800 millions. 



The German tongue will have increased from 62 to 124 millions. 



Tiie French tongue will have increased from 40i to 60^ millions. 



The individuals speaking German will form a seventh part, and those 

 speaking French a twelfth or thirteenth part of those of English tongue; 

 and both together will not form a quarter of the individuals speaking 

 English. The German or French countries will then stand toward 

 those of English speech as Holland or Sweden do at present with re- 

 gard to themselves. I am far from having exaggerated the growth of 

 the Anglo-Australian-American populations. Judging by the surface 

 of the countries they occupy, they will loug continue to multiply in large 

 proportion. The English language is, besides, more diffused than any 

 other throughout Africa and Southern Asia. America and Australia 

 are not, I confess, countries in which the culture of letters and sciences 

 is so much advanced as in Europe ; and it is probable that, for a length 

 of time, agriculture, commerce, and industry will absorb all the most 

 active energies. I acknowledge this. But it is no less a fact that so 

 considerable a mass of intelligent and educated men will weigh de- 

 cisively on the world in general. These new peoples, English in origin, 

 are mingled with a German element, which, in regard to intellectual in- 

 clinations, counterbalances the Irish. They have generally a great 

 eagerness for learning and for the application of discoveries. They read 

 much. Works written in English or translated into that tongue v.'ould, 

 in a vast population, have a very large sale. This would be an encour- 

 agement for authors and translators that is offered by neither the French 

 nor the German language. We know in Europe to what degree diffi- 

 culties exist in the publication of books on serious subjects; but open 

 an immense mart to publishers, and works on the u:ost special subjects 

 will have a sale. When translations are read by ten times as many 

 I)eople as at present, it is evident that a greater number of books will 

 be translated ; and this will contribute in no small degree toward the 

 preponderance of the English language. Many French people already 

 buy English translations of German books, just as Italians buy transla- 



