Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 1.djvu/725

Rh change. That is all that can be said for the study of philology, and it is no small recommendation. To go Mr. Clark's length is a mistake. The meaning of root words, and the history of their transformation down to the present time, are no more essential to clear and effective composition than an historical knowledge of tools is essential to good carpentry; and the reason is manifest. The meaning of a word is determined not by its derivation but by usage. We can no more know the meaning of a word from the meaning of its etymon than we can know the size of a river at its mouth by going to its source.

Philological knowledge, however delightful, being a luxury, and therefore a secondary object, my space will not permit me to expatiate upon it. I make a brief statement.

The enormous acquisition of Latin and Greek is both insufficient and unnecessary.

It is insufficient. A thorough knowledge of Greek and Latin clearly will not help us in such parts of our vocabulary as are not derived from those sources.

It is unnecessary and even useless. The roots in English are computed at 500. The only rational way to study our philology is, to take up these roots, and trace their ramifications, so far as these have been ascertained. A collateral study would be the importation of words from various sources: for this purpose it would be ridiculous to master the syntax and literature of the various original languages. The main groups are determined by simple rules.

The philological argument assumes yet another form. The Latin scholar is supposed to have a peculiar advantage in scientific terminology.

Mr. Torr, a Lincolnshire farmer, examined before the Commissioners, says: "All botany and all chemistry have a sort of Latin derivation. There is a sort of knowledge of Latin in every thing. For instance, a man could not go into chemistry or botany without knowing the derivation and finale of every word."

In this matter, many argue as if the meanings of the original words were learned without an effort. The real state of the case is obvious enough. If the meaning of the original is adopted without change in the derivative, it can be learned as easily in English as in Latin. If the meaning of the original is not retained in the derivative, a knowledge of the one will be no aid toward the knowledge of the other.

Where several words come from the same root, let the common element be explained. If philology were really taught in our schools, as it might be were less time occupied with classics, the root-words in scientific nomenclature would be no less familiar to the average boy than they are at present to the best classical scholar.

We are told, furthermore, that English grammar cannot be taught without Latin grammar. "All masters," say the Commissioners,