38 EVOL UTION AND NA TURAL THEOL OGY. 



In the two last paragraphs, we have been 

 speaking of the instability of very poor lan- 

 guages. More copious ones, and those spoken 

 by larger communities are much more stable. 

 The increase of literature has a great tendency 

 to keep the languages of modern Europe fixed ; 

 but the chief disturbing influence arises from 

 the constant communication between natives of 

 different countries now speaking widely different 

 languages, which leads to the continual intro- 

 duction of new words. But on the other hand, 

 constant intercourse between tribes speaking a 

 similar language, has a great tendency to per- 

 manency of dialect. Hence the resemblance 

 between the Semitic languages, at the head of 

 which stands Arabic, one of the most ancient, 

 copious, and pliable languages in the world, 

 which has been spoken for thousands of years 

 over an immense extent of country ; and which 

 gave rise to the remark of Higgins ("Anacatypsis," 

 i. p. 465) that, " In the character of no-made 

 tribes there seems something favourable to the 

 retention of language, which is difficult to ac- 

 count for." It is easier to comprehend now; 

 for, applying to Philology the recognised prin- 

 ciples of Zoology, we perceive at once that the 



