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Xiittamxt,
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Xiittamxt,
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CKAIK ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE . Outlines of the History of the English Language , for the use of the Junior Classes in Colleges and the Higher Classes m Schools . By George L . Craik , Professor of History and of English Literature in Queen ' s College , Belfast . Chapman and Hall . Tins is the first fruits of Professor Craik ' s newavocation , and although a small , modest volume , it has the solidity and careful accuracy which he hestows on everything he undertakes . It consists of a series of propositions embodying the leading facts in the History of our Language , to which are added the more important of those minor and subsidiary particulars which illustrate the propositions . It seems admirably adapted for the purposes of tuition , and may be taken as a text-book .
The propositions forming the texts of this work are the following : — " I . There are two kinds of Evidence by which the origin or composition of any product maybe attested the Internal ; and the External , or Historical . " "II . The First of the facts constituting the External or Historical Evidence that we have in regard to the sources of the English language is , that the country in which it is spoken and has grown up , appears to have been occupied at an early date , in whole or in part , by a Celtic population . "
"III . The Second fact is , that from about the middle of the First Century of our era till after the commencement of the Fifth , or for not much short of 400 years , South Britain was a Human province , and extensively occupied by colonists speaking the Latin tongue . " " IV . The Third and the main fact is , that after the extinction of the Konian dominion , the country was in great part conquered , taken possession of , and occupied l » y certain tribes of ( Jotbic race and language , whose descendants have ever since formed the hulk of itH population . "
" V . The Fourth fact is , tint in the latter prat of the Ninth Century , extensive settlements were eifected in the North-eastern parts of Kngland by a Scandinavian people , the Northmen or Danes . " " VI . The Fifth fact , and the one . next in importance to the Third , is , that iu the middle of the Eleventh Century England was conquered by the Normans , who were originally Danes , hut . bad been settled in France for about , a century and a half , and had by this time exchanged their ancestral Scandinavian tongue for the JNeo-l , atin tongue called French . "
"V 1 L . It would thus appear that the languages which have been imported into and established in England hy the successive populations that have conquered or . settled in it , and which may each , therefore , have in a greater or less degree contributed to the foimation of its existing language belong to three several branches of the lndo- European Family ; the Celtic , the ( ioihie , and the Classical . " " VIII . J 5 iit the facts constituting the External or . Historical Kvidenee that we have regarding the sources of the language leave us nearly altogether uninformed as to the proportionate amount of each of its several probable ingredients , and as to the precise resultH that have been produced by their intermixture . Thin we can only learn from the Internal Evidence , or that afforded by the language itself . " "IX . The number of words which the Knglish language appears to have derived lrom the (' eli . u : of tin- original Hritonn , or their descendants the Welsh , is considerable ; but they arc scattered and unconnected , and do not . constitute a distinguishable department , of its vocabulary . JNo . stream of words has llovved into it from tliut quarter . There bus been no
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j T is not often that the French return us the compliment we so often pay them , of borrowing their plots and characters for our novels and plays ; but Paul Feval has , in his Capitain Simon , made free with an amusing character Douglas Jerroi-d set before us in his comedy , Retired from Business . jsfo one who remembers the martial Army Clothier * so bellicosely rendered by Buckstone , can fail to recognize him under the amusing form of Roussel in this novel . Apropos of French Literature the week has been unusuall y active in spite of society having been saved . Lamartine has given us the third and fourth volumes of his Histoire de la Restauration ; Barantk the third volume of his Histoire de la Convention , bringing the narrative down to 1793 . Thierry announces a new edition of his works ; and Alexandre Dumas has commenced his Memoires in La Presse . The French papers still continue to be filled with Governmental lies ; but Jules Janin last Monday resumed his feuilleton in his usual style—with this exception , that whereas during the last year he has scarcely published an article that was not seasoned with political hits , with tirades in favour of Order , or diatribes against the Anarchists , he now passes beside all political allusion , and exercises his rhetoric on other topics . Among the new works just out let us notice a Spanish translation of Ticknor ' s History of Spanish Literature—by Don Pascual de Gayangos y Don Enrique de Vedia { con adiciones y notas crtticas ) , Mr . Ticknor having communicated some notes and corrections to the two translators , who have added from their own store . Aueubach ' s new novel , Neues Leben , in three volumes , also lies on our table—tempting from the reputation he has acquired by less ambitious works . In English Literature we have several dainty bits of gossip , but unhappily not one that we are " at liberty to mention , " our informants having mercilessly added , par parentluhe , that secresy was " desirable just for the present" ! Meanwhile it is no secret that Wilkir Collins is to give us a Christmas story , or that the authoress of Olive , not only has thrown three welcome volumes into our lap , but is about to throw a Christmas story after them . What with the books on our table and the lists of " announcements " promising an active season , the most rapacious devourer of novelties will find the four-and-twenty hours too brief for the despatch of all that he should read . If the most of these are mediocre , what of that ? They are ( secure of an audience ; for it is as true now as it was in Boilkaij ' s day , that the foolish renders match the foolish writers" Ainsi qu ' en sots autexirs Notre HKH-le est fertile en sots admirateurs !" Or —( to give you the same thought under the guise of another quotation ) - —as Pktronius will tell you , the cunning * writer imitates the adroit iishcrman , and only baits his hook with what the little fish will bite . at . If you insist upon tin ; original , here il is carefully copied from the Satyricon .- — " Sic I'loquentia * niagister nisi tanquam piscator cam iinposuerit hamis cscaiu quain scierit . appetituros (; pisciculoK , sine ape praukr moratur in scopulo . " 'bit the remark is ho old , and has been no often made , that il , i . s to indulge in the . cheapest luxury ° 1 quotation to quote passages that enforce ; it .
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n 'Mrs are not the legislators , but the judges and police ¦? literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and t v to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
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Pec . 20 , 1851 . ] Q ^ t % ta * btt * 12 li
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hcmoolkr ' h hook ok natijkk . « '"• Itoaf , of JVtitme ; < ui I 4 lt ! iiici ) t ( tri / Introduction to the Scienci't " . / I' / ii / sin , ,-tntronnmy . Chemistry , Minenilof / u , ( J eulogy , tt'itany , l ' ht / si <> toi / t / , mill Zoolo ;;;/ . Jiy Kiiedricli Kcliiidlrr . •'• lili . r from ' Llio I ' il ' tU ( i . rinau Kdition , by Henry MiclltxK , •'' - <; . 8 . J . . ) . ( iiillin and Co . "I ' - Hook of Nature ; what , an ambitious title , and wl » at vast acquirements , aiding profound capacity , : ii « needed to produce such a Bible ! For
thousands of years have the greatest intellects been occupied in striving to read the " open secret , " the great hieroglyphs of Nature ; and some meanings of the writing have been interpreted , but the Book of Nature still remains without a competent editor . Schodler , the German Chemist , is assuredly not the man . Men of far other capacities , and of far more accurate knowledge , would have failed in such a premature attempt . But poor Schodler gives the measure of his capacity in that profoundly erroneous assertion which meets us on the second page : "The ancients were content to use and to enjoy the gifts of Nature , but had little desire to know their causes or effects ! "
The book only too plainly bears out the want of philosophic worth which that sentence implies . The very classification of the Sciences is made without principle , unless we are to accept as such the separation of Astronomy from Physics , upon the ground of the number and importance of astronomical phenomena ! While touching on this subject of classificationthe immense importance of which few writers discern—let us note the capital error of those who class Geology as one of the fundamental sciences . Unless we restrict our view of Geology till we see in
it nothing more than a branch of Mineralogy , it may easily be proved that Geology is not a science at all , in the ordinary acceptation of the term , and certainly cannot be allowed such a title by those ( and they are the majority ) who refuse it to History , which is the analogue of Geology . History is the story of the growth and development of Humanity . Geology is the story of the growth and development of this planet . They both tell of past epochs , as produced by living laws ; the same physical
causes which we now detect in the processes of Nature , are the causes we assign to the production of all Geological phenomena ; and the same laws which we see in operation now , are the laws which the Historian must master before he can explain the past . To understand Geology it is necessary that men should first understand Physics , Chemistry , and Biology . How then , can Geology take its place any where between these sciences , when these sciences subserve it ?
We do not address these observations to Schodler , for he is totally indifferent to all questions of classification , as this work proves . Indeed nothing of the philosophy of science must be expected from him . He has compiled popular treatises on Physics , Astronomy , Chemistry , Mineralogy and Geology , Botany and Zoology , and has bound them together by the Binder's art , without giving himself much trouble in giving them a spiritual unity . His ambitious tit ' e is altogether misleading . Had he called
his work a Popular Handbook of Science , we might have applauded it for many qualities desirable in such a Handbook . It is brief , clear , illustrated with abundant diagrams , well distributed , easy of reference , and not—as popular books are apt to be — shamefully inaccurate . The Astronomy and Chemistry are the best treatises . Zoology the worst . The errors in the latter are abundant and important . One of them we shall dwell on , because it implies a very superficial acquaintance with physiological
H : " In the investigation of the internal . structure of plants , the microscope shows us that their internal organization originates in modifications of the simple cell , and that all their simple organs are referrible to this type ; . A similar analogy is not prevalent in the animal body ; on the contrary , microscopic analysis proves that animal , tissues arc composed of at . least four primary forms , which are apparent whether they be viewed individually or collectively , and between which there is no transition state perceptible , as is the case in the modifications of the cellular into t :. c vascular tissue in plants . "
We know not on what , authority Schodlrr and his Editor speak ; but unless it , be on souk ; discovery of their own , we assure them the statement just quoted is in open contradiction , not onl y to the cell doctrine , but to a variety of known facts . An ; they disposed to dispute the now ascertained position of the cell doctrine , viz ., that , every animal is primarily a cell ? Are they not aware that many of the simpler Animaleula ; are regarded as nothing
else than simple cells with ciliary appendages ? An ; they not aware that in embryology the morphological transformations proci-dc the transformations of tissues ? Then again , when bone is fractured what do we see take place ? Nature sets to her procckh of reparation by developing the primitive " blastema , " or cell-matter , into cartilage or fibrous tissue , and the formation of hone ( osseous tissue ) takes place , after that . What is that but , u transition state of the tiHHiicfi ? Any surgeon will tell
spring by insensible gradations from the vegetable forms—thus showing the connection of the two kingdoms—he commences with Man and descends to the sponge ! Not only is such a zoological arrangement eminently unphilosophic , it is in flagrant contradiction to the very purpose of a Book of Nature . If in Botany he begins with the Alga ? , why not in Zoology begin with the Zoophytes ? Simply because writers of Botanical works begin in one way , and writers of Zoolog ical works in
you that fibrous tissue may be developed into more highly organized structures , such as the serous or mucous . But we need not further insist on the point . This section on Zoology is , as we said , the worst ; and it illustrates the want of anything like a true conception of a Book of Nature , that although Zoology is treated after Botany , yet instead of coramehcingwith those simpler forms of animallifewhich
another . We have been severe in our scrutiny of this work , because popular works of S cience demand from criticism that sc rutiny which higher works are certain to receive from those whom they address . In summing up , we repeat this Book of Nature , worthless as a philosophic work , is of considerable merit as a Handbook . Apart from the errors we have alluded to , it is an excellently compiled book .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 20, 1851, page 1211, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1914/page/15/
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