NATURE 



225 



THURSDAY, JULY 22, 1875 



THE LIFE OF LANGUAGE 

 The Life and Gfoivth 0/ Language. By William D wight 

 Whitney, Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philo- 

 logy in Yale College. The " International Scientific 

 Series," vol. xvi. (London : King and Co., 1875.) 



THIS is certainly a disappointing volume. When the 

 editors of the Internaiio}ial Scientific Series offered 

 us a treatise on Language by the side of such works as 

 Tyndall's " Forms of Water in Clouds and Rivers," 

 Bagehot's " Physics and Politics," Bain's " Mind and 

 Body," Spencer's " Study of Sociology," we had a right 

 to expect something substantial, if not original. Instead 

 of this. Prof. Whitney presents us with what is to all 

 intents and purposes an abstract of his " Lectures on the 

 Study of Language," delivered in 1864. in Washington 

 and other places, lectures which in themselves contained 

 hardly more than a popular summary of some of the 

 results obtained by the researches of German, French, 

 and English scholars on the origin, the development, and 

 the classification of languages. " The old story," to let 

 Prof. Whitney speak for himself, " is told in a new way, 

 under changed aspects and with changed proportions, 

 and with considerably less fullness of exposition and 

 illustration." But why simply tell us the old story over 

 again ? Has the science of language made no progress 

 since 1864? Has Prof. Whitney himself worked up no 

 new materials ? Has he no discovery of his own to 

 record in his own special fields of labour ? Has he 

 brought none of the problems which, as he told us in 

 1864, still perplexed the students of the science of 

 language, nearer to a solution ? Or, at all events, has 

 he not found some more felicitous illustrations than those 

 with which he entertained his hearers ten years ago ? If 

 any one who knows the Professor's lectures, should read 

 his new treatise on what he strangely calls the "' Life and 

 Growth of Language," we doubt not which of the two 

 volumes he will keep on the shelves of his library, and 

 which he will assign to the corner of ephemeral litera^ 

 ture. Prof. Whitney has set forth his good wine at the 

 beginning, and gives us now that which is worse. To 

 judge from other numbers of the International Series, the 

 rules imposed on the contributors do not seem to have 

 prevented them from treating their subjects in a thorough, if 

 not in an exhaustive way. Besides, there are in this volume 

 several lengthy discussions as to whether the science 

 of language should be called a physical or an historical 

 science, whether it deserves the name of a science at all, 

 whether a knowledge of psychology is essential to the 

 student of language or not ; discussions which, as far as 

 we arc able to judge, contain an " infinite deal of nothing," 

 and add very little to what had already been written on 

 these subjects. 



In one respect, however, we have to congratulate 

 Prof. Whitney most warmly on a great improvement 

 in these his second and more sober thoughts. From 

 beginning to end his new book is free from spite and 

 personal invective. Neither Humboldt, nor Bopp, nor 

 Renan, nor Schleicher, nor Bleeck, nor Steinthal, nor 

 Goldstiicker are held up to ridicule as ignorant of the 

 A B C of grammar and logic. There is here and there a 

 Vol. XII. — No. 299 



groundswell and a distant rumble, but on the whole the 

 sea is between moderate and smooth, and we arrive at 

 Calais with a feeling of relief and sincere thankfulness. 

 It may be that these feehngs are not shared by all readers. 

 Man is by nature a pugnacious anima), and though in 

 later life but few like to use the cudgels themselves, they 

 still like to look on where there is a row. Prof. Whitney's 

 new book therefore may seem to some people more dull 

 than any of his former compositions ; yet his true friend$ 

 will rejoice that for once he has chosen the better part of 

 valour, and in showing regard to others has shown respect 

 for himself. 



In making this laudable effort, however. Prof. Whitney 

 seems to us to have fallen, involuntarily, no doubt, into a 

 mistake which we hope he will forgive us for pointing out. 

 Prof. Whitney, it is true, has not in this volume, as far as 

 we can trust our memory, abused anybody by name. 

 He himself takes credit for it at the end of his preface, 

 where he says : " I have on principle avoided anything 

 bearing the aspect of a personal controversy." But 

 neither has he thought it necessary to add any references 

 where he avails himself of the work done by other scho- 

 lars. On this point, too, we shall quote his own words :— 

 " And I have had to leave the text almost wholly without 

 references, although I may here again allege the compen- 

 dious cast of the work, which renders them little called 

 for. I trust that no injustice will be found to have been 

 done to any. The foundation of my discussion is {sic) 

 the now generally accessible facts of language, which are 

 no man's property more than another's." 



This is not the first time that Prof. Whitney makes 

 these curious excuses. In the preface to his Lectures the 

 same or a very similar plea was put forth. We quote 

 again his ipsissima verba : — " The principal facts upon 

 which my reasonings are founded have been for some 

 time past the commonplaces of comparative philology, and 

 it was needless to refer for them to any particular autho- 

 rities. When I have consciously taken results recently 

 won by an individual, and to be regarded as his property, 

 I have been careful to acknowledge it. It is, however, 

 my duty and my pleasure here to confess my special obli- 

 gations to those eminent masters in linguistic science. 

 Professors Heinrich Steinthal, of Berlin, and August 

 Schleicher, of Jena, whose works I have had constantly 

 upon my table, and have freely consulted, deriving from 

 them great instruction and enlightenment, even when I 

 have been obliged to differ most strongly from some of 

 their theoretical views. Upon them I have been depen- 

 dent, above all, in preparing my eighth and ninth lectures ; 

 my independent acquaintance with the languages of 

 various type throughout the world beingjfar from suf- 

 ficient to enable me to describe them at first hand. I 

 have also borrowed here and there an illustration from 

 the ' Lectures on the Science of Language ' of Prof 

 Max Miiller, which are especially rich in such material." 



Now, what we wish to point out with reference to these 

 repeated reservations on the part of Prof. Whitney is this. 

 Because an author refrains from personal invective, it 

 does not seem to us to follow that he may also dispense 

 with giving honour where honour is due. No doubt there 

 are a good many facts in the science of language which 

 by this time have become public property, nay, where it 

 would be extremely difficult^o say who was their original 



