Philosophy of Language. 123 



Herder/ and others, of Germany. The latter 

 doctrine was adopted, and maintained, during the 

 period under consideration, by M. Sussmilch, Dr. 

 Beattie, Dr. Blair, and by many other writers, 

 who have treated either formally or indirectly on 

 the subject. 



The true nature and philosophy of language, or 

 the principles of Universal Grammar, seem to have 

 eluded the inquiries of the most sagacious for many 

 centuries. A multitude of writers of the first 

 character, from Plato down to Leibnitz, treated 

 largely and ably on the subject; but they did little 

 more than to copy the mistakes of each other, or 

 to present a succession of delusive systems, which 

 would not bear the test of more enlightened exa- 

 mination. Though this may appear strange to a 

 careless or superficial inquirer, yet when the ex- 

 treme difficulty of the subject is duly appreciated, 

 it will no longer be a matter of surprise that so 

 many great men should, in their investigations, 

 have gone so wide of the mark. 



After the many preceding failures to examine 

 w T ith success the philosophy of language, Mr. 

 Locke undertook the task, in his great work on the 

 Human Understanding? But while he threw much 

 light on the doctrines of mind, and treated more 

 successfully than any preceding writer of the com- 

 position and use of terms, he did little to advance 

 the knowledge of universal grammar. His suc- 

 cessor, Dr. Hartley/ assuming different ground, 

 attempted also to form an analysis of language, 

 and to present a philosophical view of the subject. 

 But, like his predecessors, his labours served only 



e Herder accounts for the origin of language on mechanical principles, 

 or by combining the organical structure of the body with the faculties of 

 the mind which inhabit it, and the circumstances in which the being i§ 

 placed, in whom this organization and these faculties are united. 



/ Essay on Human Understanding. Vol. II. book ill. 



2 Observations on Man. Vol. I. chap. iii. sect. t. 



