Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/88

 All this work is meritorious, for it opens up to the science of language hitherto unsuspected fertile fields. The most obvious defect is the emphasis thrown, consciously or not, on the study of the comparative relationships of tongues. Moreover the tendency of this work is to ignore, or at least to slight, other vital relations; consequently many erroneous conceptions of language as a whole were encouraged. Confusion was wrought in the study of linguistics by strange statements and by fantastic speculations which were accepted, if not given, as true explanations.

About the middle of the 19th century or a little later, the conditions involving the life of language began to receive more rational attention; and since that time they have been questioned to a better purpose. The study became more and more concrete. It was perceived, for instance, that language is not a self-developing organism, but that it is a product of the human spirit at work in a col-