370 The Future of the English Language. [July, 



master merely the most important of the living languages 

 must detract considerably from the amount of time which 

 can be applied to the enlarging of the bounds of science. 

 Let us disabuse ourselves of the vulgar notion that the man 

 of science is a sort of lucky guesser. who arrives at conclu- 

 sions by process of conjuring. Let us remember that he 

 must be first of all an instructed man, well acquainted with 

 what has already been done, and what is actually being 

 done. De Morgan speaks very emphatically on this point : 

 " New knowledge, when to any purpose, must come by 

 contemplation of old knowledge, in every matter which 

 concerns thought ; mechanical contrivance sometimes, not 

 very often, escapes this rule. All the men who are now 

 called discoverers, in every matter ruled by thought, have 

 been men versed in the minds of their predecessors, and 

 learned in what had been done before them. I may cite, 

 among those who have wrought strongly upon opinion or 

 practice in science, Aristotle, Plato, Ptolemy, Euclid, 

 Archimedes, Roger Bacon, Copernicus, Francis Bacon, 

 Ramus, Tycho Brahe, Galileo, Napier, Descartes, Liebnitz, 

 Newton, Locke. I have taken none but names known out 

 of their fields of work, and all were learned as well as 

 sagacious. ""*" 



But at no previous period was there such a general diffu- 

 sion of scientific investigation. The problems which engage 

 the attention of the physicists of London and Berlin are 

 also being eagerly scrutinised by those of Florence, Boston, 

 Melbourne, and Cracow. That men should at the same 

 time be accomplished linguists and profound scientists, is 

 more than can be reasonably expected. There can, then, be 



of our sc : Tig transferred to India ; and we heard, from good authority, 



that we were not likely to get on there unless we could speak Hindustani, and 

 perhaps understood Sanscrit or Persian. Here. then, were Greek. Latin, 

 French, German, Dutch, Caffre, Hindustani, Persian, Sanscrit, all to be 

 learned, in order that one's own thoughts and wishes should be made intelligible 

 to another person. In our judgment, this is not only a mistake, but it is a 

 mistake which is remediable, and which is a slur upon the common-sense and 

 civilisation of the world.'" After pointing out that in music there is but one 

 language, he suggests that "a committee of the scientific men of all nations 

 should be formed, which should decide on a language that shall be termed the 

 universal language. Let us suppose that German be found to be the most ex- 

 iress e and complete of existing languages, and the one decided upon as the 

 universal tongue. We commence our education, not with a superficial know- 

 ledge of several languages, but with a thorough knowledge of German only. 

 All other nations adopt the same course : and we know that wherever civilisa- 

 tion has spread, wherever missionaries have resided and taught, - t 

 this universal language shall be at once intelligible, and able to communicate 

 our thoughts readily." — Chambers's Journal. January. 1S72 

 * Budget :<:' Faradoxes. 1S72. p. 4. 



