528 NATURE OF ROOTS AND WORDS. 



opposite of the general. Only the individual has a real existence, 

 but each individual combines within itself the particular and the 

 general. The general is only what is common to several individuals " 

 (and is therefore synthetic by nature, and of later growth), "the 

 2Jarticular is what distinguishes individuals." 



What has hitherto been said may be summed up in the following 

 statements : — 



I. (a) That the grounds on which the possibility of the evolution of 

 articulate speech from the inarticulate cries of the lower 

 animals has been advocated are insufficient and untenable. 

 (6) That our inquiries as to primitive language should commence 

 with primitive man, i.e, with the first men of whose exist- 

 ence as men we have positive evidence. 



II. (a) That the earliest human beings of whose existence we have 



such evidence were tool-makers and tool-users, and that 



their tools were of the same kind as those used by savage 



races now in existence, i.e., by the primitive man of the 



present day. 

 (6) That all tool-makers and tool-iisers known to us are capable 



of articulate speech, and actually use it ; and that therefore 

 (c) The earliest human beings of whose existence we have 



evidence were capable of using, and probably did iise, 



articulate speech. 



III. That the phenomena of language, as spoken at the present day, 



and as it has been spoken within the period of which we 



have historical evidence, furnish us with data amply sufficient 



to enable vis to draw, by a process of inductive reasoning, the 



following conclusions as to the nature of primitive words : 



1 °. That the most prominent general characteristic of all language 



is its infinite variability and constant fluctuation, and that 



in two respects, viz. : 



(i.) In respect to content or sigTdficance. 



[a) The same sounds were used to name different objects; 



and, vice versa, 

 (h) The same ideas were named by different sounds ; and 



therefore 

 (c) Primitive names were infinitely variable in meaning, 

 (ii.) In respect to form the variability was equally great. 



