ON A DOMINANT LANGUAGE FOR SCIENCE. 245 



which they are quite as familiar as with Freuch. I have seut my sou 

 to a towu where uothing but Germau is spoken, in order that he may 

 be forced to speak it." In such preferences you must not look for the 

 causes in sentiment or fancy. When a mau has choice of two roads — 

 one straight and open, the other crooked and diflicult to find — he is sure 

 to take, almost without reflection, the shorter and more convenient one. 

 I have also observed families where the two languages known in the 

 same degree were English and French. In this case the English main- 

 tained supremacy, even in a French-speaking land. It is handed down 

 from one generation to another. It is employed by those who are in 

 haste, or who want to say something in as few words as possible. The 

 tenacity of French or English families established in Germany in speak- 

 ing their own language, and the rapid disappearance of German in the 

 German families established in French or English countries, may be ex- 

 plained by the nature of tJie languages rather than by the influence of 

 fashion or education. 



The general rule is this : In the conflict of two languages, everything 

 else being equal, it is the most concise and the most simple that con- 

 quers. French beats Italian and German. English beats the othei 

 languages. In short, it need onl^" be said that the more simple a lan- 

 guage is, the more easy it is to be learned, and the more quickly can it be 

 made available for f>rofitable employment. 



The English language has another advantage in family use — its litera- 

 ture is the one most suitable to feminine tastes; and every one knows how 

 great is the influence of mothers on the language of children. Not only 

 do they teach what is called " the mother tongue," but often, when well 

 educated, they feel pleasure in speaking a foreign language to their 

 children. They do so gayly, gracefully. The young lad who finds his 

 language-master heavy, his grammar tiresome, thinks very differently 

 when his mother, his sister, or his sister's friend addresses herself to 

 him in some foreign tongue. This will often be English, and for the best 

 of reasons : there is no language so rich in works (written in a spirit of 

 true morality) upon subjects which are interesting to women — religion, 

 education, fiction, biography, i)oetry, &c. 



The future preponderance of the language spoken by English, Aus- 

 tralians, and Americans thus appears to me assured. The force of cir- 

 cumstances leads to tbis result ; and the nature of the language itself 

 must accelerate the movement. 



The nations who speak the English tongue are thus burdened with a 

 resi)onsibility which it is well they should recognize at once. It is a 

 moral responsibility toward the civilized world of the coming centuries. 

 Their duty, as it is also their interest, is to maintain the present unity 

 of the language, at the same time admitting the necessary or conve- 

 nient modifications which may arise under the influence of eminent 

 writers, or be arranged by common consent. The danger to be feared 

 is that the English language may, before another century has passed, 



