OF LANGUAGE, OR A POPULAR VIEW OF NATURAL LANGUAGE, IN ALL ITS VARIED DIS- AND AS CORRESPONDING WITH Instinct, Intelligence and Reason; A PHYSIOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANS OF VOICE; AN BY BENJ. F. TAYLOR, A. M. WITH A N INTRODUCTION BY ASAHEL C. KENDRICK, A. M.. PROFESSOR OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN THE [ILLUSTRATED.] HAMILTON, N. Y.:—J. & D. ATWOOD: UTICA:-BENNETT, BACKUS & HAWLEY. 1842. ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, by J. & D. ATWOOD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Northern District of the State of New York, To manifest indifference, where we apprehend censureto ask for sympathy, where we cannot hope for praise-to pronounce the sentence "mene tekel," upon every similar effort to perpetrate the most daring deeds of literary piracy, and then, pirate-like, attempt to scuttle the good ship that we have rifled, are too much "tricks of the trade," either to obtain credence or disarm criticism. The old Sculptor, who placed the Parian statue in the forum, that every passer-by might mark thereon, what seemed faulty to him, met a fate, which has many parallels in this "age of print." A Grecian disfigured the nose because it was Roman, and a Roman battered the lip because it was Grecian. A crippled soldier deprived it of an arm, a gladiator demolished an eye, and a boor mutilated the bust; and when the artist went forth to profit by the comments of his teachers, he saw the beautiful creation that had heaved, as with life, beneath his chisel, and become human-intellectual-noble, beneath the tracings of his graver, dashed from its pedestal, a heap of misshapen fragments. As he sadly gathered them up, he learned that while demolition is the pastime of the many, the design and the execution are the unremunerated labors of the few. I do not claim a martyr's niche, as some do, for I wrote all for love-the love of the subject; and if my reader feels half the pleasure in the perusal, that I experienced in the production of it, he will have as little claim to such a distinction as I have. Indeed, so deeply am I interested in the subject, that I contemplate its continuation in a subsequent volume. If this please you, well; and if not, you will be prepared for such a calamity; as being forewarned, you are also forearmed. The critic, who is so Quixotic as to imagine that this book is "worthy of his steel," might have gained an enviable reputation at the battle of the Windmills, but he can gain no laurels here. Capture a multitude of errors, he may; detect a host of blemishes, he doubtless will; but still, killed, wounded and prisoners all told, survivors enough will remain, to attest the frailty of the mortal who penned them. But let him point out the excellencies and discover the beauties, and if he succeed in this, my word for it, he will evince a clear discernment, and what is more, an acute penetration for which the world will not be slow to do him honor. It is almost unnecessary to say, that I have availed myself of books in the composition of this work; that many of the facts contained in these pages may be found interspersed throughout the voluminous writings of Drs. Good, Griscom, DUNGLISON, RUSH and BELL; and if the discerning reader discover anything here, of which he can trace no ancient and honorable lineage, why I suppose he must call it mine. Especially would I acknowledge my indebtedness to PROFESSOR KENDRICK, for the kind words of counsel and encouragement which he has often spoken; for the countenance which he has given to my little labors, and to which some of these pages bear ample testimony. In this connection, I may be allowed to mention the name of RUFUS TIFFANY, of Michigan; the grateful recollection of whose faithful friendship and efficient aid in the gloomy hour of illness and disappointment, no distance can absolve, no time obliterate, till Memory's tablets shall be broken, and Gratitude's fountain dried up. Somebody has said, that a preface is to the reader, what the desert was to the Israelites. I cannot help thinking how unhappy the pilgrim's lot, when, after a dreary sojourn in the prefatory wilderness, no promised land appears to bless his eyes, and while I think, I lay down my pen and HAMILTON, June 8, 1842. stop. B. F. T. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. What the Critic says to the author; His early difficulties; his opinion of English Grammar; his "position de- fined;" remarkable coincidence in views; Author's plan. CHAPTER II. Talk with the reader; what language is; Con- versation between a mother and her son; what the ivy told Charles; language of the violet; the lily; the camomile; the flax; the willow; the snow-drop; the aspen. CHAPTER III. A little floral dictionary: language of the nettle; the bramble; the olive; the poppy; what grief will do; the ama- ranth; the mistletoe; what the author ventured to do for the sake of the dialogue; why'the flowers never told the reader a thought; a piece of advice which he will follow, if he please. CHAPTER IV. What we have done; chat with the reader; an- ecdote; learning and knowing are two things; language of the night, distant lands; morning on the Alps; what is nobler than CHAPTER V. The stars of Heaven and Earth; their language; the stars' lesson of humility and hope; the morning star; its language; the Polar Star; Comets; the extinguished star; its language; our neighbor in the Universe; the fall of Niagara; the sublime teachings of the stars. CHAPTER VI. Language of the seasons; the voice of Spring; of Summer; of Autumn; of Winter; definition of language as already considered; review; proposition to the reader. 47 CHAPTER VII. God talks with man through nature; the con-- venient "it" the eye; the two worlds; what an idea is; what thought is; man a social being; language the link; the brute CHAPTER I. What we owe to Nature; brutes have language; brutes have ideas; what they would be without language; the scale of being; instinct in the vegetable world; instinct and intelligence in the animal kingdom; illustrations. CHAPTER II. The duck; complex nature of sucking, swallowing and respiration; definition of instinct; not sentient; not intel- ligent; examples; the office of intelligence; its relation to instinct; few animals destroy life wantonly; the skill of birds in nidification; color of the eggs; individual and generic instinct. 73 |