Gibb's Manual Lexicon [pp. 269-277]

Gibbs's Manual Lexicon.
ance, and wherever he appears to have trusted them himself,
there is little to desire. The only exceptions to our general
commendations owe their existence to an undue deference for
every high, yet fallible authority. "In this work," says the
author in his preface, "I have adhered to the philological
principles of Gesenius. Only in a few instances have I found
it necessary to dissent from his opinion." The adhesion,
however, is extended to particulars which can hardly be re ferred to philological principles, and upon one of these we
make bold to animadvert. We mean what is called the alpha betical arrangement, as contradistinguished from the radical
arrangement of the older lexicographers. In a case where
the fresh-water current of authority sets so strong against us,
we shall endeavrour to avoid the imputation of presumption,
by using the interrogatory form of speech. We ask, then,
whether it has ever been proved, by experiment or logic,
that this change is for the better? And is not the reason
which is commonly assigned, to say the least, a very strange
one-its convenience to the student? Is it not a convenience
which aids him for a week or two, and thenceforth only
serves to aggravate his difficulties? Would not the same rea son justify the use of "skeleton grammars," verbal transla tions, and Hamiltonian quackeries? -Are they not convenient?
Do not they save time? If time is wasted in finding the root
of a word, is it not wasted in finding the word itself? Does
not the convenience here consist in precluding the necessity
of independent effort? And if so, is not the evil supposed to
be remedied, a real benefit? Will not the depth and precision of any man's acquaintance with any language be proportioned to his knowledge of its radical structure and modes of
derivation? Is it not true, as a general fact, that Greek is
more thoroughly studied in our schools than Latin, though a
greater surface may be covered in the latter? And is it not
because the genealogy of words is more clearly exhibited in
Greek grammars and lexicons, and in the prevailing mode of
instruction, as well as more obvious in the language itself?
Will not any scholar who has made extensive use of works
like that of Scapula, admit that the mental exercise attending
that use, and the view which it affords of the multiform relations of that most majestic language, abundantly compensate
for any inconvenience in consulting it? Will not any teacher
who has made the experiment, acknowledge that a great
change may be wrought upon a pupil by increased attention
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