1 873.] The Future of the English Language. 373 



English. 



English is spoken by 40,000,000 in the United States, by 

 50,000 in the republic of Liberia, by 31,000,000 British 

 subjects in Europe, by 5,000,000 in America, by 2,000,000 

 in Australia, and by at least 1,000,000 more scattered over 

 the various British dependencies in Asia and Africa, giving 

 a grand total of 79,050,000. 



From this it will be evident that English is at present the 

 most widely spread of the languages of civilisation. But 

 there is another point of importance which has been well 

 put by M. de Candolle. Nations vary greatly as to the 

 relative quickness with which they double themselves. He 

 has worked out the problem, and has calculated the number 

 of persons who will speak these languages in a century from 

 now. Let us apply his method to figures of population, 

 which sometimes vary from the estimates he has made, and 

 see what will be the probable number of persons speaking 

 the most important of the European languages at the end 

 of the twentieth century.* 



In England the population doubles itself in every 56 

 years ; in the New World the Anglo-Saxons double in every 

 25 years. The Dutch double in 106 years ; the Turks in 

 555 years ; the Italians in 135 years ; the Swedes in 

 92 years; the Russians in 100 years; the Spaniards in 112 

 years ; their South-American descendants in 275- years. 

 This last was Humboldt's computation, and has been 

 adopted here, although it may be doubted if this rate of 

 increase has not been considerably checked by the chronic 

 anarchy to which they are subject. t The North German 

 people double in from 50 to 60 years, and the South Germans 

 in 167 years, say 100 years as a mean for the entire race. 

 The French populations take about 140 years in which to 

 double.^ 



* M. de Candolle's work ("Histoire des Sciences et des Savants depuis 

 deux Siecles, suivie d'autres Etudes," par Alphonse de Candolle, Geneve, 

 1873), is one of great interest, alike from the subject-matters with which 

 it deals and from the charm of style and treatment. In the essay with which 

 we are more immediately concerned (" Avantage pour les Sciences d'une 

 Langue Dominante et laquelle des Langues Modernes sera necessairement 

 Dominante au XXme Siecle "), he estimates that in 1970 there will be 

 860 million English-speaking persons to 124 million German, and 6g£ million 

 French-speaking persons. 



f These estimates are derived from the following sources : — " Universal 

 Language," by William White, p. 3 ; Bath, 1850. De Candolle : Hist, 

 des Sciences. Encyclopaedia Brit., art. " Population." Statistical Journal, 

 vol. xxxiii. 



X The following appears in the " Lancet," of May 3rd, 1873 : — " M. Lagneau 

 has placed before the Academy of Medicine of Paris a paper, from which it 

 appears that the discouraging features presented by the quinquennial census 

 VOL. III. (N.S.) 3 C 



