LANGUAGE.
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a numerous society. These he has occasion to communicateto his fellows to portray a diversity of feelings, for whichhe has yet had no name. For these he is indebted to hisnative ingenuity.
How new Languages have been formed. —The various lan-guages and dialects which are found in the world may beaccounted for by the following observations. The originallanguage used by man appears to be that which was spokenby the post-diluvians, the remnant of which was evidentlypreserved by those who re-peopled the earth after the deluge;the same language which was spoken subsequent thereto inMesopotamia, recognised by the name of Chaldeeic, or Sama-ritan ; this is that language which was spoken by all thehuman race before the “ confusion of the lip,” as renderedby the learned Mr. Bryant. After that event, when thespecies could not understand each other, but were dispersedinto various people, nations, kindreds, and tongues, theyemigrated into new settlements: where, being surrounded onall sides with new circumstances, fresh climates, novelevents, and entirely unaccustomed associations altogether,it follows, that fresh names must be invented to render suchknown to his fellows who might be associated with him; thusnew names would be invented and used; and the old, forwhich he had then no use, would be, in process of time,forgotten. In due time, the progressive increase of popu-lation would render fresh emigrations necessary; when thenew colonies would have to undergo as equally novel a seriesof incidents, as those to which their progenitors had beenexposed as above described: and so on, ad infinitum, likethe undulations or vibrations produced in a calm sheet ofwater from the falling of a stone.
Certain Languages have been lost. —It is observed, thatthere have existed languages, of which there now remains noknowledge: an instance of this may be seen in what is knownonly by name, as the Persepolitan, or a dialect of the ancientPersian . In the district of Merdasht, and at the walls ofthe palace of Chelminar , 1 or Tackli Jemshid, “the Throne ofJemshid,” are profusely sculptured characters which bearno resemblance to the Greek, Hebrew, or Arabic , or indeedto any other known character, except to the ancient Chaldaeic,or Babylonian , (which appears equally unintelligible.) Like-wise the Phelvi, or that language spoken in the mountain-ous parts of Persia. Had we room, this loss of tongues should