2KI ON A DOMINANT LANGUAOK FOR SOIKNCE. 



l»^^ broUfii up into tliivi^ l;ui^uuji(>s, wliich wimltl bo in the siuuo rela- 

 tion to (NU'li t)tlior Jis me Italian, Spanish, and l\)rtuy,iK'Sc, or as Swed- 

 ish atid l>anisli. 



Some I'jiij^lish aulh«)r8 have :i mania lor maldn{;ne\v words. J)ii'kens 

 has invented several. Yet the lOnj^lisli lanj;iiay;e already possesses many 

 mor(> words than the l-'riMuh, and the history of its; liti'mturi^ shows 

 that tlu^re is yreali^r ni'iMl tosnpprcss than to a^ld to tluMoeabnlai-y. No 

 writer for three eiMilnries past lias employed nearly so many dilVcrent 

 worths as Shalvesl)ear^^ ; thertMore t!uMt> must have been nmny unneecvs- 

 sary ones. Probably every idea and c»very object had formerly a term 

 of SaiXon orijuin, and ou(^ of Latin or I'reneh origin, without conntinj;" 

 C'eUie or Danish words. Tlu' v«'ry logical oin'ration of tinu^ has been to 

 suppress the doubh>or triphMvor<ls. Why re-establish them f A people 

 so eeonomieal in its use oi' words does not retpiire nuue than one term 

 for eaeh thinji'.* 



The AnuM'ieans, on the otlu'r han<l, makt^ innovations of ae.eiMit or 

 orthography, (they almost always si)ell l<tboi(r ''labor," aiul Jiurbour 

 '• harbor.'^) The Australians will do the sanui if they tlo not take eare. 

 Why should iu>t all possess tlu> noble ambition of j;iviny; to the world 

 ont> uniform eoneise laiiji'uaii'e, supported by an imnuMise literature, and 

 spok(M» in the next century by eii^ht hundred or one thousand millions 

 of eivili/ed nuMi ? To other lan{>uajjes it would be as a vast mirror, in 

 which (nu'h would bi>conu> rellected, thanks to U(nvspa[)ersaud translations, 

 and all the frieiuls of intelUn'tiial culture would have a convenient 

 medium for tlu^ intercliaum^ of ideas. It would be renderiug an inunense 

 service to futurt^ racivs, and at the sanu> time the authors and men of 

 sciiMU'e <)f lOuii'lish speakiuji' race wn)nld t;ive a. strong;' impulsion to their 

 own ideas. The Americans, above all, are interested in this stability, 

 since their country is to be the nu>st itnportant of those of Knji'lish 

 tongue. Ilow can they ae(|uire a greater iidluence over Old England 

 than by speaking her language with exactness ? 



The liberty of action permitted among peo[)le of lOnglish race adds 

 to the danger of a division in the language. Happily, however, certain 

 causes which broke up the Ii;itin language do not exist for lOnglish na- 

 tions. The llomaiis CDmiuennl natii)ns the idioms of which were uiaiu- 

 tained or re-appeared here and there in spite ot administrative unity. 

 The AnuM-ii'aus and Australians, on the contrary, have before them only 

 savages, who «lisappi>ar without leaving any trace. The Komans were 

 con(|uered and dismembered in their turn by the barbarians. Of their 

 aui'ient civilization no evidence of unity remained, unless it was in the 

 Ohuri'h, which has itself felt the intlueace of the universal decline. The 

 Anu>rieans and Australians possess nmny nourishing schools; they 

 have the literature of England as well as their own. If tliey choose, 



* A rJoviM- Eiipflish writer has just publislioil u volume on tl\o institutions of tho people 

 ctillod iN'jr».s\s m Eiij^fUsh. llo ntiinos tlioui Switzvrs. For what reason V Will there soon bo 

 DctUschcrs ' 



