438 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



common in the Romance languages, appears in the Germanic 

 languages somewhere about the ninth century, and from thence on- 

 wards becomes characteristic of a very great proportion of the poetic 

 compositions of all civilized languages. The innumerable ways in 

 which rhyme has been used in the varied construction of verse-forms 

 need not detain us. They are simply illustrations of the pleasure 

 which human nature finds in diversity combined with similarity 

 which we have seen already exemplified in other forms of Iteration. 

 We have called attention before to the parallelism which exists 

 in many directions between Music and Speech, more particularly 

 between music and emotional speech or poetry. In both of these 

 one cannot fail to see how great a part Iteration plays. All folk- 

 music is iterative or melodic in its structure, and so is all folk- 

 poetry. Music may develop, as it has done, into wondrous variety, 

 which plays round its central theme till resemblance seems lost in 

 diversity. Poetry may make its rhythms and verse construction 

 elaborate, may seek to avoid the mere jingle which appeals to^ the 

 uneducated ear, but both alike must not go too far if they are not 

 to cease to exist. The force which tends to Iteration is a funda- 

 mental one, and until human beings cease to respond to the 

 measured beat of military music we must regard the influence of 

 Iteration in all its wonderfully diversified forms as something rooted 

 in the very essence of human nature. 



