SHEMITIC CIVILIZATION. 115 



during the last half century, have been to 

 shew, in the general development of our 

 races, two elements of such a nature which, 

 mixing in unequal proportions, have made 

 the woof of the tissue of history. From the 

 seventeenth century and, indeed, almost 

 from the middle ages it has been acknow- 

 ledged that the Hebrews, the Phoenicians, 

 the Carthagenians, the Syrians, the Baby- 

 lonians (at least from a certain period), the 

 Arabs, and the Abyssinians, have spoken 

 languages most intimately connected. Eich- 

 horn, in the last century, proposed to call 

 these languages Shemitic, and this name, 

 most inexact as it is, may still be used. 



A most important and gratifying dis- 

 covery was made in the beginning of our 

 century. Thanks to the knowledge of Sans- 

 crit, due to English scholars at Calcutta, 

 German philologists, especially M. Bopp, 

 have laid down sure principles, by means 

 of which it is shown that the ancient 

 idioms of Brahmanic India, the different 

 dialects of Persia, the Armenian, many dia- 



