Art and Science 



demand supply. Language is a device evolved 

 sometimes by leaps and bounds, and some- 

 times exceedingly slowly, whereby we help 

 ourselves alike to greater ease, precision, and 

 complexity of thought, and also to more con- 

 venient interchange of thought among our- 

 selves. Thought found rude expression, which 

 gradually among other forms assumed that of 

 words. These reacted upon thought, and 

 thought again on them, but thought is no 

 more identical with words than words are 

 with the separate letters of which they are 

 composed. 



To sum up, then, and to conclude. I would 

 ask you to see the connection between words 

 and ideas, as in the first instance arbitrary. 

 No doubt in some cases an imitation of the 

 cry of some bird or wild beast would suggest 

 the name that should be attached to it ; occa- 

 sionally the sound of an operation such as 

 grinding may have influenced the choice of 

 the letters g, r, as the root of many words 

 that denote a grinding, grating, grasping, 

 crushing, action; but I understand that the 



number of words due to direct imitation is 



229 



