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be rigorously accurate, it will have to be explained by the circum- 

 stance, that as the Chinese is esteemed a universal medium of commu- 

 nication between the people referred to, it is more extensively taught 

 amongst them than even amongst the Chinese themselves. 



Mr. Du Ponceau enters, at some length, into the nature of the four 

 languages, or classes of languages which are embraced in the commu- 

 nication of Mr. GutzlafF. 1. Of the various dialects of the Chinese. 

 2. Of the Annamitic languages. 3. Of the languages of Japan and 

 the Loochoo Islands ; and 4. Of the Korean; the two first of which 

 are monosyllabic, the two last polysyllabic; and from all the facts and 

 reflections, he concludes, that the circumstance of the Chinese cha- 

 racters being understood so extensively amongst these people, is not 

 owing to any thing inherent in the Chinese characters, in their shape 

 or greater perspicuity, but to their connexion with the languages from 

 which they were formed, and to the mode in which they have been 

 adapted to them. The vernacular languages of Japan, the Loochoo 

 Islands, and Korea, are so different from the Chinese, that it was found 

 impossible to apply to them the Chinese system of writing; conse- 

 quently, when the people of these countries read the Chinese charac- 

 ters, they do not read them in their native language, but in the Chi- 

 nese, which they have acquired, but pronounce differently from the 

 Chinese themselves. This is not the case with the people of Tunkin 

 and Cochin China — the Annamites ; their language or languages being 

 formed on the model of that of China, with some variations, which 

 they learn, in their schools, to correct, and to employ the proper cha- 

 racters as a superior orthography, by which they are enabled to read 

 the Chinese as well as their own language. 



The Committee recommended that the interesting commu- 

 nications of Mr. GutzlafF and Mr. Du Ponceau, tending as they 

 do, to elucidate a contested topic of Oriental Philology, be pub- 

 lished in the transactions of the Society. 



Dr. Hare made a verbal communication on the subject of 

 tornadoes, and on his electrical theory of their formation, sup- 

 porting his views by reading an extract from a Memoir by M. 

 Peltier, describing a destructive tornado which occurred near 

 Paris, in June last. 



Dr. Hare stated that agreeably to a publication in the Journal des 

 Debats for the 19th of July, some losers by this tornado having effect- 

 ed insurance against damage from thunder gusts, applied to the insurers 



