CLVlir ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT [eth, an.n. 20 



things as their names. Researches in the etyin(>h)gy of the 

 lower lang'uages to discover tlie roots of words seem to lead to 

 this conclusion. Not only were bodies named by their (|uali- 

 ties, but properties also were named by their qualities. As 

 gradually the qualities of things were discovered, (j^uality' 

 names were differentiated; then ])roi)erty names were difteren- 

 tiated, and then the names of bodies themselves were difter- 

 entiated. In savagery every pro])erty is known as a (quality 

 and is called by a quality name. Even the sunset is read as 

 a beautiful color, a hue of rejoicing, instead of as the result 

 of the rates of \ibration revealed to the scientitic student of 

 light. Properties are known as qualities in savagery. Various 

 projjerties are found in the same body, and the names by wdiicli 

 they are (tailed may stand for the body itself. Thus every 

 body may have a vai'iety of names depending on its properties 

 conceived as qualities. The discovery of this characteristic is 

 the first contri])ution made to the science of language through 

 the study of ethnic or tribal lang'uages. Max Miiller, with 

 characteristic deftness and scholarship, was, so far as 1 know, 

 the first to clearly propound this doctrine. He seems to have 

 derived it from a study of the ajjpellations of the deities. 

 Surely it was Max Miiller wdio caused it to be accepted as a 

 law of philological science. The same deity can be invoked 

 by many names, and can !)e praised in varied sjieech; and 

 when another god is addressed, many of the same terms can 

 be employed. The substrate of this custom is found in the 

 concomitancy of qualities and properties. Every god in sav- 

 ag'erv is the wisest and the best betimes, and every g-od has 

 sujjerlative attributes. The evolution of the meanings of 

 words nmst first be considered as a development in knowledge 

 by the discovery of new qualities, and new properties nuist l)e 

 considered as qualities, because of their concomitancy. 



In primitive society the discovery of new bodies is ever in 

 jtrogress by a law of mind. As they are discovered they are 

 aflfiliated to those already known and described in terms of 

 the known. When experience finds it desirable to discrimi- 

 nate, the terms of expression are gradually differentiated, and 

 thus new methods of speech arise. In savage societ}- the tend- 



