THE SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE. 55 



Somewhat analogous is, probably, the 

 origin of tbe vegetable and animal orga- 

 nisms ; the simple cell is, no doubt, the 

 common primitive form of those, as the 

 simple root is that of the languages. The 

 simplest forms of the later animal and vegeta- 

 ble life, the cells, we may likewise suppose to 

 have originated in a multitude at a certain 

 period of the life of our earth, just as the 

 simplest words in the world of speech. 

 These incipient forms of organic life, that 

 could neither be called animals nor plants, 

 afterwards developed themselves in various 

 directions. Just so the radical elements of 

 the languages. 



Since we are able to observe within a 

 historical period that the changes in any 

 language, when used by any people under 

 essentially similar conditions of life, are 

 symmetrical in the mouths of all indivi- 

 duals who speak it, we assume in conse- 



