lf.2 



i)iS(;o\i:i{V 



tion. It is functionally an intermediary between the 

 muscles and the cerebrum, but in order to be such it 

 must be constantly informed both of the state of the 

 muscles and also of the cerebrum in regard to the out- 

 put of its energy from the latter. These conditions 

 are fulfilled by the numerous afferent paths to it from 

 the muscles and from the brain. 



Reviews of Books 



English I'liilologv in English I'liii^c-rsitics. An 

 Inaugural Lecture delivered in the Examination 

 Schools. By Henry Cecil Wyld, M.A., B.Litt., 

 Merton Professor of English Language and 

 Literature in the University of O.xford. (Clarendon 

 Press, 192 1, 2s. 6d.) 

 This inaugural lecture breaks new ground in its 

 examination of the state of research in English philology 

 and in its statement of policy with regard to the teaching 

 of that subject at British universities. The pronounce- 

 ment, coming as it does from perhaps the most distin- 

 guished living English philologist, merits the closest 

 attention from all those interested in the teaching of 

 language, and in the propagation of linguistic study. 

 Professor Wyld holds, and we think he holds rightly, that 

 all is not well with University methods and curricula 

 when they do not succeed in inspiring " students with the 

 desire or the capacitj' to make any serious contribution 

 to our knowledge of any of the difficult special problems 

 connected with " O.E. and M.E. dialects, and their 

 distribution, or with their grammar and phonology. 

 "Concerning the vital question of the origin and develop- 

 ment of the literary dialect, which emerges during the 

 M.E. period, there is hardly a single contribution by 

 an English writer." Sweet and Ellis laid the foundations 

 of the study of N.E. pronunciation and of the history of 

 English sounds, but " nearly all the recent work on the 

 modern period has been done by foreigners " — Horn, a 

 German, Professor Jespersen, a Dane, Professor Elcwall 

 and Dr. Zachrisson, both Swedes. Of living English 

 scholars, among the younger men Dr. Chambers and 

 Professor Sedgefield are producing solid work on textual 

 lines ; Professor Mawer has recently published a very 

 notable contribution to the study of place-names, while 

 Professor Wyld himself is revolutionising opinion about 

 the distribution of dialect-features in M.E., and constantly 

 making additions to the knowledge of phonology. Finally, 

 the Oxford English Dictionary, its editors and assistants 

 are on the verge of completing the greatest modern 

 monument of English philological study. But even, if 

 to these we add the names of the scholars of the last 

 generation, notably those of Sir Henry Murray, Professor 

 Napier, Professor Craigie, Dr. Bradley, and Professor 

 Wright, it is clear that the promise of the work of Sweet, 

 Skcat, Morris, and Ellis has not been fulfilled. 



Mr. Wyld evidently favours the separation of the School 



of English I,itcrature from the School of English 

 Language, and holds that it is " beyond dispute that 

 the studies of literature and philology appeal respectively 

 to different types of mind." Of this the present writer 

 is by no means convinced, espcci.iUy in the earlier 

 stages. Indeed, Mr. W'yld might himself be taken as an 

 example of the scientific phikilogist with strong literary 

 bent and critical discrimination. Moreover, as things 

 are, and must inevitably for some time remain, it is 

 impossible to discover budding philologists before they 

 come up to a university. Consequently it is desirable 

 that all students in the English Honour School shall 

 follow the same course of instruction in both branches 

 of the subject until they have reached a stage when 

 they are competent to choose between them, and to 

 specialise in one or the other. Less objection can be 

 taken to Mr. Wyld's attack on " the conception of English 

 philology which is expressed by the sj-Uabuses of our 

 universities at the present time." It is an indubitable 

 fact that emphasis is usually laid on the wrong things, 

 and that the curriculum imposed does not represent the 

 progressive nature of the subject, which is too often 

 presented as something lifeless. When so-called " his- 

 torical grammar " deals mainly with problems of 

 primitive Germanic philology, while New English phono- 

 logy is almost entirely neglected ; when undergraduate 

 students of English — not of Germanic — philology are 

 expected to know the details of Gothic accidence and pre- 

 Gothic sound-laws, while they treat the English language 

 as if it had become ossified in the time of Chaucer, there 

 is surely something wrong in our methods of present- 

 ment and our attitude towards the study. No true 

 teacher or scholar but will agree with Mr. \\'yld, that 

 the right method is to get away as soon as possible from 

 the atmosphere of textbooks and lecture notes, and to 

 show the student " how and where the facts have been 

 discovered, and make him understand why such and 

 such inferences have been drawn from them." " Under 

 the direction of his teacher the student will begin the work 

 of research — the solution of simple problems, the searching 

 out of facts not too hard of discovery — it matters not 

 whether they have been discovered before or not ; the 

 main thing is that the young student should carry out the 

 operation for himself, and should thus put into practice 

 the scientific methods in which he is being trained." 

 " The first and last word in our aspirations for the future 

 progress of our studies is Research. This is the life- 

 blood of all learning." 



Mr. Wyld's plea for the proper endowment of teaching 

 libraries is one that will be endorsed by all whose lot lies 

 in the new Universities. \\"hen the sum allowed annually 

 for the purchase of English books and periodicals, both 

 literary and philological, for the central University 

 Library, varies in most of them between ;^2o and /40, 

 without any provision at all for a class library, there is 

 no possibility of giving that insight into the methods of 

 research which is the first need if there is to be progress. 

 It is generally realised that natural science must have 

 at any rate the essentials of laboratory accommodation 

 and outfit. Until philology and literature — not to 



