1866. | as indicating the Antiquity of Man. 225 
almost incalculable antiquity has been assigned, Such investiga- 
tions are now open to every one, and the mere reading of Sir Charles 
Lyell’s work on ‘The Antiquity of Man,’ would be sufficient to 
convey a general and, in fact, very good idea of the subject. The 
question has, however, been discussed from these data almost to 
exhaustion, and on this account I shall form no theory nor draw 
any conclusions from such data, but proceed by a more original and 
perhaps equally conclusive mode of reasoning, viz. the application 
of Comparative Philology to this most important subject. This has 
never been done in detail, though many able writers, such as Sir 
Chales Lyell and the author of ‘ Vestiges of the Natural History of 
Creation, have illustrated the subject in general terms, but have not 
entered into those minute details which alone are able to carry con- 
viction to scientific minds. Although the investigation must be 
attended with difficulties, and the examination of mere words may 
be uninteresting to many, the subject shall be treated as agreeably 
as the nature of it will allow, and at the same time as fully as the 
brief space allotted to such a subject in a journal will admit of. 
The comparison of languages is now very generally admitted to 
be a much more certain method of determining the place of man in 
Creation than the mere peculiarities of colour and bodily conforma- 
tion, or any other external circumstances, inasmuch as language is 
the very embodiment of thought, or the expression of all mental 
conceptions, and therefore altogether psychological. The author of 
the ‘ Vestiges,’ the last edition of whose work was published in 
1860, says:—“ Language is a profound expression of the idio- 
syncrasy of a people, not easy to be obliterated or disguised. There 
are upon earth between three and four thousand languages, perhaps 
for the most part as distinct from each other as French, English, 
German, but like these exhibiting relationships which at once enable 
us to decide on the relationships of the nations to which they 
belong. A relationship amongst languages is shown in the commu- 
nity of words or roots of words. This is the kind of relationship 
with which we are most familiar; but it is one liable to some 
obscurity, as it may either happen that all or nearly all traces of a 
common vocabulary have perished between nations known to be 
akin, or there may be a community of words that is only the result 
of accident. By far the most certain test of an affinity between lan- 
guages is the trace of a common character or analogy in their gram- 
matical structure and in their laws of combination—what has been 
well called the mechanism of speech. This is both a more imme- 
diate and distinct expression of intellect, and one which tends to be 
more permanent.” 
The languages of most civilized nations are intimately connected 
with each other, so asin fact to show one centre of creation, although 
the author just quoted says, that the sia plans of languages into 
