sequently the germs of language in all countries. The similar construction of remote languages is the result of the laws of the human mind, which are similarly developed in man, dwelling however widely apart, and by which, in the process of the construction of language, similar words and forms are independently evolved. For example, a savage owning a horse, to which he gives a name, forms a nominative case. Considering himself as owner of a horse, he forms a genitive case. Wishing to give something to eat to his horse, he forms a dative case. Announcing himself as owner of a horse, he says, "I have a horse"; thus he forms an accusative case. A verb may be evolved in a similar manner.

Language has its stages of development, its progress, maturity, decline, and extinction. Bunsen remarks that "We shall take it for granted as a general principle, flowing from a very simple and therefore universal law, that the substantial or particle language is the most ancient possible, and that the relative position and succession of the other languages will have to be made dependent upon its degree of development. The less developed language will have branched off from the original stock at an earlier period than that which presents a higher degree of development. This forms the ascending line of development. When the language has arrived at its culminating point as to its forms, the descending line will begin, which is a gradual decay of those forms. The languages of the emigrating tribes, if we possess early documents, will show us the state of development of which they are as it were the deposit, and which decide the place they are to occupy in the general scale."

Each branch of language represents the stage of development language has reached. The Chinese or monosyllabic, the Turanian or agglutinative, the Aryan or inflectional, represent the stages of development of the Indo-European branch in the ascending scale.

In the opinion of Bunsen, the Chamitic, the Chaldee, the Hebrew, are the representatives of the stages of the development of the Semitic branch of language.

According to Müller, the Tungusic, the Mongolian, and the Turkic are the stages of development in the ascending scale of the Turanian languages.

An important indication of the stage of development a nation has reached is the form of its language, or its modes of expressing words and ideas. The radical form of language as among the Chinese, and the agglutinative as among the Turanians, are proofs of early stages of development. The picture writing of Mexico is an evidence of the Mexican nation being in an early stage of development.

That the varieties of language are the result of the independent de

velopment of speech in man, we have the confirmatory opinion of Agassiz: his words are " As for languages, their common structure, and even the analogy in the sounds of different languages, far from indicating a derivation one from another, seem to us rather the necessary result of that similarity in the organs of speech which causes them naturally to produce the same sound. Who would now deny that it is as natural for men to speak as it is for a dog to bark, for an ass to bray, for a lion to roar, for a wolf to howl, when we see that no nations are so barbarous, so deprived of all human character, as to be unable to express in language their desires, their fears, their hopes? That there is an instinct or instinctive principle common to the human mind which teaches man to work out languages independently, we may quote a passage from Dr. Wilson, which is to the purpose. "By inflections as truly regulated by the science of grammatical laws as the language in which Plato wrote and Pindar sung, the wild unlettered Indian modifies each root-word or complex word sentence so as to express number, time, quality, or passions, as if guided by an intellectual instinct operating upon the reasoning faculty common to man."

Development of Religion. In religion, Fetichism is the lowest and earliest stage of its development. Fetichism is still found among the negroes, where supernatural powers are attributed to inanimate objects. In a further stage, man, experiencing the influence and mastery of the elements and the physical powers of nature over his actions, and feeling his weakness and incapability to resist their agencies, was led to propitiate and worship them. Then follows polytheism, when mankind, endowing these powers and influences with thoughts, feelings, and shape like his own, and attributing to them a will to do good and evil, was led to worship them as superior beings, and by sacrifices to them to obtain their good will and to avert their anger. Hero worship was also a development of this stage. In a later stage monotheism was evolved, attributing all might and creative power to one superior anthropomorphic being, such as the Brahma of India, the Osiris of Egypt, the Jehovah of the Jews, the Zeus of the Greeks. Its development proceeded onward, until it culminated in the sublime idea evolved by the Grecian mind of the Deity being the infinite intelligence (vovs) pervading and ruling all things.

In the earliest stage of the development of man, adoration of the sun was an almost universal worship. Its representative, fire, also shared a similar extent of worship. Man, receiving his greatest blessings from the sun, showed his gratitude by the universality of the worship of that luminary. The proudest title assumed by the Pharaohs of Egypt and the Incas of Peru was "offspring of the sun.”

Fire is the great civiliser. When man learnt to produce fire, he made a great step in his development; from its usefulness and from the benefits derived from it, man in gratitude worshipped it. For the same reason, gratitude for the benefits derived from them, rivers and fountains have been worshipped. The Indian worships the Ganges, the Egyptian worshipped the Nile. Fountains and wells are objects of veneration in many countries. These and other modes of worship are grounded in the instincts of mankind, and are evolved in accordance with the stages of man's intellectual development.

In the earlier ages of nations no adequate idea of God is developed but such as would be formed by a child. In the writings of Homer, and the earliest writings of ancient nations, we find no adequate conception of the divine nature but what we see in the case of children, diversified here and there by some happy surmise or solitary flash of truth. A purer conception of the Deity was formed in a later stage of development. Anaxagoras was the first among the Greeks who recognised the existence of a supreme intelligence directing and governing all things.

The mythology of various nations is nothing but the embodiment or giving human form and shape to the various physical agencies of nature. Such ideas seem to have arisen within the minds of, and have been suggested to, the people of various nations in their primitive state, this of course more or less modified by circumstances, such as the land they live in, the climate, the temperament.

The mythical origin of mythology would seem to be of later origin than the elementary. The mythical is but the poetical embellishment of the elementary. The mythical is the youth, the elementary, the childhood of the religious development of a nation.

The law of adaptation of every thing to its position in the world, is not only evident in the adaptation of the camel to the desert, the whale and the walrus to the northern ocean, but we may also adduce, as a wonderful instance of adaptation in nature, the eyeless fish (Amblyopsis pellucida) in the mammoth cave of Kentucky. Its eyes are covered by an opaque skin, or are entirely absent. The natural conclusion is, that, from the dark and gloomy habitat of this singular fish, the power of vision being unnecessary, nature, which adapts every living creature to the mode of life assigned to it, has withheld a faculty which would serve no purpose in the economy of its being. The appearance of eyes is preserved in obedience to the law of uniformity in nature, as paps are in man.

THE IMPORTANCE OF METHODICAL CLASSIFICATION IN AMERICAN RESEARCHES.*

By A. de BELLECOMBE,

PRESIDENT OF THE COMITÉ D'ARCHÉOLOGIE AMÉRICAINE;
Translated by WILLIAM H. GARRETT, F.A.S.L.

ASSEMBLED for the instruction of a purely American society, we must commence by rendering unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's. The idea of originating this Society does not belong to us; we only continue the undertaking with the concurrence of its learned promoters.

About five years ago, one of our most distinguished young scholars, M. Léon de Rosny, now professor at the Imperial Library, and M. l'Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, a missionary and traveller, well known for his important works upon Mexico, struck with the neglect of Europe towards America, conceived the desire of accomplishing for the New World what had long been effected for Asia and other eastern countries, by bringing into one centre all works treating upon America. At that time there was not an American society in Europe; even England, which had so often led the way in science, and discoveries of all kinds, had not conceived the idea of establishing it. Messrs. de Rosny and Brasseur de Bourbourg, with the assistance of many members of the Institute and others, feeling the time most favourable for the institution of such a society, set themselves earnestly to the task, and from the masses of statistical and topographical information, scattered or buried in unappreciated volumes, compiled their admirable works.

This address was delivered to the Comité d'Archéologie Américaine de France by M. de Bellecombe, July 23rd, 1863. (TR.)

One section scarched amid the philosophic and religious traditions of America, to find, if possible, traces of a common origin with European people; another section entered into a comparison of the indigenous American languages with those of the three ancient continents; while a third explored the history of the country before the Conquest. One examined the national literature, another was devoted to the fine arts of Mexico and Peru, whose little known and poorly appreciated remains are still visible to travellers.

Such, in part at least, was the function of La Revue Américaine, established by M. de Rosny, a publication which has hitherto met with the most encouraging success, and has reached its eighth volume. Among its contents will be found papers of the greatest interest and research on the several subjects just mentioned.*

From 1858 to 1862 important articles appeared in the Review upon the American nations before the Conquest, throwing new light upon questions which, though still somewhat obscure, are certain one day to be elucidated.

Among these papers may be mentioned "Studies on the Constitution of the New World," by M. Charles de Labarthe; "Essays upon the Science of American Language," by M. l'Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg; and "Central America and its Monuments," by the venerable Jomard, whose recent loss the learned world deplores. There are also the very curious papers of M. Aubin, on "The Didactic Painting and Figurative Writing of the Ancient Mexicans;" "America before its Discovery," by the Abbé Domenech; "Mexican Palæography," by M. Ferdinand Denis; "The Grammatical Elements of the Othomi Language;" "The Relations of the Ancient Americans with the Peoples of Europe, Asia, and Africa," by M. José Perez, and many other works, the enumeration of which would occupy too much time.

In consequence of the efforts of these learned men, the directors of the Musée Impérial du Louvre earnestly took in hand the subjects of American architecture and sculpture, and ancient America began to occupy an important place in our public galleries.

An American society is still a desideratum in the learned world. The present seems a most favourable time for its establishment, when we call to mind that the New World is brought nearer to us by the extension of the telegraph, and by the adoption of our system of military tactics in the conduct of that fratricidal war now unhappily dividing the Northern United States from the Southern provinces. There is also the important question pending between France and Brazil, as to the possession of the immense province situated between the Rio Grande and the Oyapoc, a country which * The first series appeared under the title of " Revue Orientale et Américaine".