20 DAEWINI8M TESTED BY 



servation, and the proper conclusions 

 derived from them ; nor would such a 

 lesson be lost upon several of my colleagues. 

 All those trifling, futile interpretations, 

 those fanciful etj^mologies, that vague 

 groping and guessing — in a word, all that 

 which tends to strip the study of language 

 of its scientific garb, and to cast ridicule 

 upon the science in the eyes of thinking 

 people — all this becomes perfectly intolerable 

 to* the student who has learned to take his 

 stand on the ground of sober observation. 

 Nothing but the close watching of the 

 different organisms and of the laws that 

 regulate their life, nothing but our un- 

 abated study of the scientific object, that, 

 and that alone, should form the basis also 

 of our training. All speculations, however 

 ingenious, when not placed on this firm 

 foundation, are devoid of scientific value. 

 Languages are organisms of nature ; 



