to 1 
ORDINARY MEETING, May 4th, 1868. 
The Rev. Walter Mitchell, M.A., Vice-President, in the 
Chair. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting having been read and confirmed, the 
Secretary announced the name of the following new member : — 
Rev. George Roy Badenoch, Member of the General Council of Glasgow 
University, 1, Whitehall Gardens. 
In the absence of the Author, the Hon. Secretary read the following 
Paper : — 
ON THE NATURE OF HUMAN LANGUAGE ; THE NE- 
CESSITIES OF SCIENTIFIC PHRASEOLOGY , AND 
THE APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF 
BOTH TO THE INTERPRETATION OF HOLY 
SCRIPTURE. By tlie Rev. Joseph Baylee, D.D., Prin- 
cipal of St. AidaiPs College, Birkenhead ; Assoc. Viet. Inst. 
H UMAN language is the utterance of human thought. In 
a limited degree, the expression of feelings is indicated 
by sounds which have a natural connection with those feelings. 
These are chiefly interjections, and are remarkably similar in 
most languages — e.g., oh, ah, and such-like. Some names of 
animals are derived from their natural cries. But the num- 
ber of words derived from these sources is so small that they 
may be omitted from an outline discussion of the nature of 
language. 
Had we the means of forming a judgment, a very interesting 
inquiry would be whether there is any natural relation between 
vocal utterances and intellectual ideas. In our present condi- 
tion, we may safely affirm that there is not. If we were in an 
animated assembly, where impassioned speakers poured out 
torrents of debating eloquence in a language wholly unknown 
to us, we might be greatly interested at the sight, we might 
even be excited by their manifested emotions, but we should 
be wholly unable to catch any of their ideas. There is there- 
vol. hi. t 
