846 PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION 1. 



The fact is, that the languages commonly taught in schools — ■ 

 Greek, Latin, French, German, and English — are in their 

 essence one language, and if they are to be learned scientifically 

 they must be learned and taught with due regard to the fact 

 of their unity. T do not, of course, advocate teaching the 

 phonetic laws of a language from the outset ; the learner 

 must have acquired a fair practical accpiaintance with the 

 language first. But from the outset the progress of the 

 learner may be aided by the judicious use of the comparative 

 method, especially in regard to vocabulary. The most 

 scientific as well as the easiest mode of learnnig new words 

 is by means of their derivation and cognate words. In 

 Latin, for example, there is hardly a word that has not some 

 cognate word in English or French. The vocabularies of 

 these languages should, therefore, be learned as far as 

 possible in common. Hence, to teach French quite apart 

 from Latin, as is so often done, is quite unscientific. If, on 

 the contrary, a boy is taught that French penser is derived 

 from Latin pendo, and properly means to weigh in one's mind, 

 he not only learns a scientific fact, but, if he forgets one 

 word, the other will easily recall it to his mind, and he is far 

 more likely to remember both than if he had learned each 

 word separately as though it had no connection with the 

 other. But it is not in mere isolated derivations alone that 

 the scientific value of comparative philology lies. The 

 student must be led to perceive that language is subject to 

 laws as uniform as those which govern other natural pheno- 

 mena, and that all exceptions (even in Enghsh) are only 

 apparent. When he has learned that Latin tres, tu, tenuis, 

 to«o = English tliree, thou, thin, thunder, the teacher may 

 lead him by an easy induction to recognise the phonetic law 

 that Latin initial ^= English th, and encourage him to find 

 other examples and also apparent exceptions. Again, Latin 

 nigrum, minus, /ic?ew = French noir, moins, foi ; that is, Latin 

 1= French oi. Simple phonetic laws like these may be taught 

 to boys and girls at school with advantage. Quite apart 

 from their scientific value, they stimulate the mental faculties 

 of the learner and render the acquirement of a larger 

 vocabulary at once more easy and more permanent. 



If comparative philology is useful at school, in the university 

 it is indispensable for any really scientific study of languages. 

 For literary and practical purposes a language may perhaps 

 be studied very well without its aid ; but literature and con- 

 venience are not science ; and, just as no one can be said to 



