203 
ORDINARY MEETING.* 
THE PRESIDENT, Sir G. G. STOKES, BART., IN THE CHAIR. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed, and the 
following Elections were announced :— 
AssociaTEs :—R. J. Snape, Esq., M.A., London ; Rev. Kenneth 8S. Mae- 
donald, M.A., D.D., India. 
The following paper was then read by the Author :— 
ON THE COMPARISON OF ASTATIC LANGUAGES. 
By Major C. R. Conver, R.E,, D.C.L., LL.D., M.B.A.S. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
INCE the power of articulate speech is one of the most 
distinctive attributes of man, there is, perhaps, no more 
useful or fascinating study than that of the growth of 
language, nor any which is more likely to shed light on the 
difficult questions of prehistoric events and conditions. Yet 
the question which forms the subject of this paper is one of 
great difficulty, and which has often suffered from hasty 
treatment ; and it is inevitable that an attempt to enquire 
into the ultimate relationship of different families of speech, 
should meet with objections not less formidable than were 
those encountered by the fathers of the true comparative 
study of the Aryan languages, who laid the basis of our 
present knowledge some fifty years since. 
The main difficulty hes in the continual and sometimes 
rapid change of language from generation to generation, 
which is most marked among peoples who have no literatnre 
capable of maintaining a standard, and among scattered 
tribes holding little intercourse. I have been told that among 
* Oth of 28th Session. 
YP 
