178 president's address — section I. 



Tlie Argus a letter from Professor Sayce, of Oxford, very 

 much to the effect of what I have heen repeating. It must 

 he borne in mind that Si1)ylla will not for ever continue her 

 offer. 



It is a question whether a great dictionary of a language 

 is better compiled by a society or by an individual. In 

 France and in Italy such dictionaries have been produced by 

 the French Academy and the Academy della Crusca ; yet 

 Littre's French Dictionary, the work of a private person, is 

 thought better than that of the Academy. In England there 

 have been sighs for an academy from men as great as 

 Dryden, and the sighing has not altogether died away ; but 

 the Avork of dictionary-making was left to private individuals 

 until about a generation ago, when preparations for a new 

 English dictionary on a large scale were taken in hand by 

 the Philological Society. This noble work, now proceeding, 

 is a good specimen of co-operation of individual labourers 

 combined with pubhc bodies. The Philological Society began 

 it ; the University of Oxford is at charge of printing it; but 

 the control of the literary work is entirely in the hands of 

 Dr. Murray, who has now divided the band of scholars 

 working under him, arranging the materials in his scrip- 

 torium at Oxford, and half of the workers are now under 

 the captainship of Mr. Henry Bradley. Dr. Murray has 

 invited assistance from our end of the world for the words 

 and phrases peculiar to Australasia. A body like this 

 Section, composed of men from different parts of scattered 

 colonies, might render valuable help in organising this work 

 of collecting authorities for our various peculiar words and 

 usages. Twenty or thirty men and women, each under- 

 taking to read certain books with the dictionary in mind, and 

 to note what is peculiar in a prescribed fashion, could 

 accomplish all that is needed. Something has been done in 

 Melbourne, but the Colonies have different words and uses 

 of words, and this work is of a kind which might well extend 

 beyond the bounds of a single city. At first it may seem as 

 if our words were few, as if in the hundred years of Australian 

 life few special usages have arisen ; but a man with a philo- 

 logical turn of mind, who notes what he hears, will soon find 

 the list grow. This is true not only of slang, though even 

 slang, being the speech of the people, is not undeserving of 

 some scientific study. Some philologers speak, not very 

 satisfactorily, of being " at the fountains of language." We 

 can all of us testify to the birth of some words within our 



