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first, the elements of which words are composed, 

 and which are generally reduced to a few let- 

 ters, are no longer distinguished. These ele- 

 ments, when isolated, exhibit no meaning : the 

 whole is assimilated and mingled together. 

 The American languages, on the contrary, are 

 like complicated machines, the wheels of which 

 are exposed. The artifice is visible ; I mean, 

 the industrious mechanism of their construc- 

 tion. We seem to be present at their formation, 

 and we should state them to be of a very recent 

 origin, if we did not recollect, that the human 

 mind follows imperturbably an impulse once 

 given ; that nations enlarge, improve, and re- 

 pair the grammatical edifice of their language, 

 according to a plan already determined ; finally, 

 that there are countries, the languages, the in- 

 stitutions, and the arts of which, have remained 

 invariable, we might almost say stereotyped, 

 during the lapse of ages. 



The highest degree of intellectual develope- 

 ment has been hitherto found among nations, 

 which belong to the Indian and Pelasgic branch. 

 The languages formed principally by aggregation 

 seem themselves to oppose obstacles to the im- 

 provement of the mind. They are in fact unfur- 

 nished with that rapid movement, that interior 

 life, to which the inflexion of the root is fa- 

 vourable, and which gives so many charms to 

 works of the imagination. Let us not, however, 



