Short Notices [pp. 337-344]

Short NFotices.
true structure of the Chinese, with which he is disposed to class
them. But whatever reservations the reader may feel compelled to withhold from the general conclusions of the author,
they will not affect seriously the strength of his convictions,
that this argument foreshadows the approaching verdict of
ethnological philology, in regard to the great fundamental
question, of the original unity of the human race in origin as
well as species.
With the subject of the two other works which we have
placed at the head of this brief notice, Dr. Latham is still more
familiarly and minutely acquainted. The larger one was completely rewritten in the second edition; and the third, which
lies before us, comprehends the results of all the scholars who
are labouring in the same interesting field, both in England
and on the Continent, to the date of its publication, in 1850.
The Hand-Book of the English Language, just reprinted in
convenient form, presents the gathered fruits of years of laborious research, in a comparatively plain, unprofessional way.
It brings the subject fully up to its present status, and is entitled, therefore, to precedence over, if indeed it does not supersede, most of the numerous works that have been pouring from
the press on both sides of the Atlantic for ten or fifteen years.
The author seems to be perfectly at home in the Anglo-Saxon,
and to have a good comparative acquaintance with all the Continental cognate Gothic tongues, in both their principal branches
-the Scandinavian and the Teutonic,-as well as with both
the living subdivisions of the old Celtic.
The work is divided into six parts: the first discusses the
general ethnological relations of the English language. Well
aware of the complexities and uncertainties of the minute questions which are implicated in this discussion, he threads his way
with commendable caution, and announces his results with becoming modesty. The second part, on the History and Analysis of the English Language, strikes us as admirably done,
though not exhaustive for the want of more complete researches
into some of the constituencies of the language. The philosophical discussions touching the causes of linguistic changes are
cautious and safe; conducted in the light of facts carefully collected and clearly stated, rather than by a trenchant analytic,
or a priori process.
The third part treats of sounds, letters, pronunciation, and
spelling: with the' included topics of euphony, permutation of
letters, quantity, accent, and a historical sketch of the English
alphabet.
The fourth part investigates both historically and philoso
1852.]
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