July 15, 1922] 



NA TURE 



67 



The case is almost equally strong for a subject which, 

 while not absolutely fundamental in the sense indicated 

 above, is necessarily included in the studies of a uni- 

 versity for regional or local reasons. If it is argued 

 that the undergraduates might travel to another 

 university for the necessary instruction, it may be 

 replied that in most cases it would be inconvenient 

 and expensive and not seldom impossible. Assuming 

 that the subject is taught in the university, the argu- 

 ments adduced above show conclusively that oppor- 

 tunities for research are indispensable. A possible 

 alternative would be to bring a teacher from another 

 university to give a course of instruction in it. This 

 is a plan which, though it has been adopted with good 

 results in some universities, is not always possible or 

 desirable. One can picture a case, in economics for 

 example, where investigations into local conditions are 

 absolutely necessary for the proper development of 

 the teaching of the subject, and no substitute can 

 adequately replace it. 



While we are sensible of the need for economy and 

 the avoidance of all unnecessary overlapping in our 

 universities, we are also sensible of the wonderful 

 developments which have taken place in higher and 

 specialised studies in the few decades during which 

 the modern universities have come into being and 

 attained some degree of maturity. It may well be 

 said that " not since the monastic period of the twelfth 

 century, or the scholastic revolution of the sixteenth, 

 has England known an educational movement so rich 

 in romance, in courage, in devotion, and in promise." 

 This extraordinary expansion and development, 

 which has changed the whole face of education in 

 England, is one of self-development untrammelled by 

 vexatious restrictions. The modern university has 

 developed under the wing of the State ; it can no more 

 dispense with Government assistance than it can with 

 its students or staff. But if it is to fulfil its rightful 

 destiny it must retain its freedom to develop from 

 within. By all means let there be co-operation and 

 co-ordination among the various universities, just as 

 there are within the university itself. But if, un- 

 happily, any attempt to lop or prune activities, hitherto 

 self-determined, were to succeed, the measure of its 

 success would be the measure of the nation's loss. 



More Light on the Bantu Languages. 



A Comparative Study of the Bantu and Semi-Bantu 

 Languages. By Sir Harry H. Johnston. Vol. 2. Pp. 

 xii + 544. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922.) 3Z. 35. 



AFTER numerous and vexatious delays, the second 

 1~\. volume of this monumental work has at last 

 seen the light. It contains " an analysis and com- 

 NO. 2750, VOL. I 10] 



parison of the phonology and word-roots and a com- 

 parative examination of the syntax of the Bantu and 

 Semi-Bantu languages, together with the conclusions 

 to be derived from this evidence." In accordance with 

 this plan we have, first, a review of the various groups 

 of Bantu and Semi-Bantu languages, following the 

 arrangement adopted in the first volume. (An alpha- 

 betical index of languages, by the bye, would greatly 

 facilitate research, though the student is helped to a 

 considerable extent by the table on pp. 2-13. In vol. 

 1, those not gifted with a remarkable memory for 

 numbers had to turn over the pages till they found 

 the particular language required.) 



The classification adopted is open to some objections 

 in detail — as was almost inevitable in the circum- 

 stances : but one had hoped to see some outstanding 

 inaccuracies corrected in vol. 2, e.g. the treatment of 

 the two distinct languages Lala and Lamba as one and 

 the same. This, of course, is due to Madan, the only 

 authority accessible when the vocabularies were pre- 

 pared ; but other sources of information have since 

 become available. Again, there is some confusion 

 (vol. 1, p. 281, vol. 2, p. 79) as to the languages entered 

 under 70 : Chopi, to adopt the ordinary orthography, 

 is a distinct language from Tswa, and also, we believe, 

 from Lenge, which, again, is not the same as Hlengvve. 

 (See e.g. Junod's map in the " Grammaire Ronga." 

 Sir Harry Johnston dissents from this writer's view, 

 but it is supported by good recent authority.) 



The paragraphs dealing with " Group T : the Zulu- 

 Kafir languages " contain several points calling for dis- 

 cussion. It is surely by an oversight that the palatal 

 click (<;<-, q) is said to be " confined mainly to Zulu and 

 Sesuto." It does not occur in Zulu, and only doubt- 

 fully in Xosa. (Bleek : " Vide Boyce-Davis, p. 4, 

 where the qc is probably intended to indicate this 

 sound.") The fact that it is found in Sesuto 

 is interesting, as showing that it was probably 

 borrowed direct from Hottentots or Bushmen — not, as 

 usually assumed, from the Zulus. The same paragraph 

 contains a somewhat perplexing assertion : "In Zulu 

 the employment of clicks instead of diminishing is 

 extending, through the same spirit of tribal self- 

 assertion as may be met with in the Basuto. Whenever 

 a present-day Zulu or even a Kafir " (why " even." 

 seeing that click-words are more numerous in Xosa 

 than in Zulu ?) " wishes to coin a new word — and they 

 are doing this on an immense scale — he nearly always 

 introduces a click into it. . . ." 



It is difficult to check statements of this kind unless 

 one is in constant touch with natives, but a rough test 

 may be made by consulting the list of neologisms at 

 the end of Colenso's Dictionary (edition of 1905, 

 pp. 721-724). Among 236 words we find only three 



