different languages, which really show nothing about the origin of organic sounds, as connected with their meaning; but which, when stripped of their disguises, show only the derivation of these words, in successive languages, from a language preceding. His theory, summed up in a few words, is this; namely, that all men have the same organs of speech and of hearing; that organic sounds are intelligible sounds with distinct meanings; that written signs denote these intelligible sounds, each sign corresponding to an organic sound; and consequently that each letter, in its origin, is the sign of a distinct meaning, and in fact of a word previously familiar in speech. Starting from these first principles, he finds or imagines the initial and final letters of words to be significant, and when he cannot account for letters interposed (appearing not to be significant), he ascribes the interposition to accident or corruption. But his illustrations appear to be, for the most part, forced and fanciful, and are so generally either unsatisfactory, or unintelligible, that we leave them for the investigation of more profound miners in the depths of philology. Mr. Richardson is a generous critic. He speaks in just terms of praise of the labors of Johnson, from whose Dictionary, he says, may be chosen "interpretations expressed with most admirable precision and completeness"; and he concurs in the opinion of Nares, that "Johnson's authority has nearly fixed the external form of our language, and that from its decisions few appeals have been made.' He is just too, no less than generous. Speaking of his obligations to Horne Tooke (his magnus Apollo among graminarians), he says, "I have done to him that scrupulous justice which I have done to all, to whose labors I have been indebted. Of not one borrowed feather, unacknowledged, would I willingly permit myself the use. "To that distinguished political philologer he is, indeed, more than just. He speaks of him "as the philosophical grammarian who alone is entitled to the name of a discoverer." We, too, acknowledge our obligations to this discoverer, so called, but not on the ground upon which Mr. Richardson founds his preeminent claims; namely, that "he has demonstrated that a word has one meaning and one only." This seeming paradox, when explained, amounts to nothing more than what has been perceived and affirmed by other philosophers and grammarians, ancient and modern. Scaliger affirms, that no word has more than one primary and peculiar signification. "I doubt not," says Locke, "but if we could trace them to their sources, we should find, in all languages, the names that stand for things that fall not under our senses, to have had their first origin from sensible objects." That such names are the origin of language, and hence that language, with all the refinements that have attended its growth, has sprung from nouns, may readily be admitted. Sir James Mackintosh says, that "Horne Tooke's is a wonderful work; but the great merit is the original thought." The original thought attributed to that "wonderful work" does not belong to it. The real merit and peculiarity of the work, consist in the illustration of an old theory by a process of induction, and forcing every thing to bend to that theory. Every word, in its origin, says the author, is a noun. The particles are abbreviations; the verb is a noun and " something more"; but here he leaves the matter, and tells us not what that something more is. Though he rejects the common nomenclatures, both of practical and philosophical grammarians, he is obliged to resort to classification, and to speak of abbreviations instead of particles, and of another class of words not only as adjectives, but as potential passive and potential active adjectives. But we must return from our wanderings to Mr. Richardson, and conclude with the expression of our conviction, that whoever examines his Dictionary, even to the small extent that we have done, will find it entitled to all the praise we have bestowed upon it. 5. A Greek Grammar for the Use of Learners, by E. A. THIS is a very compact, thorough, and logical grammar; wanting neither in method, proportion of parts, nor copiousness of detail. The author is a modern Greek, who has lived a number of years in this country, has been a successful teacher, and now resides at New Haven. So far as we can see, he possesses a complete mastery of English, which is especially shown in his translations of examples under his rules of syntax. In these there is a raciness and clearness of expression, which give proof, that both the English and ancient Greek are clothed with their full power and life in his mind. Mr. Sophocles is quite unlike many of his countrymen in his appreciation of the labors of modern European scholars. He does full justice to Matthie and Buttmann; and may, in truth, we think, be said to have written his Grammar, with a due knowledge of the state of Greek learning at the present day. His candor and love of truth appear remarkably in what he says of pronunciation, upon pages 22, 23; where he ascribes, contrary to the practice of the modern Greeks, to the letter the sound of ey in they, and to v that of the French u. In short, we find nothing, or almost nothing, in his views, or mode of stating them, which seems foreign, or can be referred to a narrow and prejudiced way of contemplating Greek grammar. The innumerable references, throughout this Grammar, to laws and rules previously made known, not only deserve praise on account of their compactness and method, but will prove of great assistance to a thorough student, who is desirous to have, with the facts of grammar, their reasons and accordance with other facts, as far as they can be given. We are struck, for instance, with the references to the laws of euphony, which are elegantly stated at the beginning of the work. When the author has occasion to mention σπείσω future of σπένδω, it is only necessary for him to refer back to these laws, in order to make it plain, that this form, instead of being anomalous, as we are carefully assured in some school grammars, is in the highest degree regular, being but an example of obedience to a law that controlled the language. Among the improvements in this Grammar, we notice lists of second aorists, active and passive, and of second perfects. It is well known that these forms of the verb are few in number, and that the second aorist active, especially, belongs almost exclusively to anomalous verbs; so that the usual rules for its formation are inapplicable and useless. We should think it well, if other lists of a similar nature were to find their way into elementary books; for instance, one of nouns which actually follow the Attic form of the second declension, and one of verbs, other than those in go, which take the so-called Attic form of the future. The advantage of such lists consists in showing the student the limited use of certain forms, that he may not conceive of them as being equally general with others, of which the examples are innumerable. The list of anomalous verbs in this Grammar is truly excellent. Through love of severe system, Mr. Sophocles has referred to this list, those verbs, (siui, siui, inui, etc.,) which are usually placed by themselves, after the ordinary paradigms. This is rather an advantage in the hands of a faithful teacher, who will take pains to let his scholars know, that the anomalous verbs are one of the most important titles in Greek grammar. We have gone through the Syntax (which occupies a hundred pages, or more than one third of the Grammar,) with great pleasure. The rules are stated with precision, and the examples are from the authors of the classic age, many of them from the dramatic poets, and apparently of the author's own selection. A little more minuteness in unfolding the doctrine of the modes would perhaps have been desirable. γυναικός.” There are a few things, which we hope Mr. Sophocles will alter in a second edition. On page 2, instead of the sneer at "some modern philologists, who imagine they discover the digamma at the beginning of almost every Homeric word beginning with a vowel," it would have been well, to give a list of those few words, which nearly all sober scholars of any eminence unite in regarding, as having originally been sounded with the digamma in the Homeric dialect. On page 35, the author says, "It is not necessary to manufacture yuvais for the sake of yuvazós." We wish that he had explained what other form in the nominative is presupposed by the existing oblique cases, rather than this, which he condemns and Buttmann favors. On page 47, it would have been desirable to state, what adjectives in -os are of two endings; and what license the poets allow themselves herein. Under the verb, the first person of the plural in the active uniformly appears in the dual also. We like the old plan better of giving no first person dual, and of explaining the subject in the syntax. We regret also, that in the paradigms the dual follows the plural; not, indeed, on account of any principle involved in the position of the two numbers, but because Mr. Sophocles thus opposes the prejudices of teachers in favor of the old jingle, which they have heard in their boyhood. On the whole we heartily recommend this Grammar, as likely to make thorough and intelligent Greek scholars, and, indeed, to bring about a new era in the acquisition of this language. 6.An Elementary Treatise on Astronomy, in Four Parts, containing a Systematic and Comprehensive Exposition of the Theory, and the more important Practical Problems, with Solar, Lunar, and other Astronomical Tables. Designed for Use as a Text-Book in Colleges and Academies. By WILLIAM A. NORTON, late Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in the University of the City of New York. New York: Wiley & Putnam. 8vo. pp. 485. THIS treatise is well adapted to the student who wishes to acquire a thorough knowledge of Practical Astronomy; who would not be contented with a merely popular work, and yet has not the mathematical ability to master the more profound calculations required for the full developement of the mechanism of the heavens. He will here find a clear and well-digested view of the methods of determining the motions and places of the sun, the moon, and the other heavenly bodies, their eclipses and occultations, the construction of astronomical tables and the measurement of time, together with some useful astronomical tables uncommonly well arranged; so that, if he have any taste for numerical calculation, he will be abundantly supplied with good materials, and, if he should desire to predict an eclipse or to calculate an almanac, he could not readily be referred to a more satisfactory source of information. He will also find a somewhat novel and lucid "exposition of the operations of the disturbing forces in producing the perturbations of the motions of the solar system," sufficiently accurate and comprehensive, perhaps, for the ordinary purposes of instruction. A great defect of the volume consists, however, in the meagreness of its details with regard to the natural history of the heavenly bodies. A single page, illustrated by no diagrams, is all that is allotted to the physical constitution of the moon; and in direct contradiction to the delicate observations of Schröter, without any allusion to them, this body is declared to have no atmosphere. The variaable stars and nebulæ are hastily passed over in an uninteresting description, and no notice is taken of the sublime speculations to which they have led the minds of philosophers. But such defects as these do not render the work of less value for the practical purposes for which it was evidently designed, and for which it may be recommended as an excellent text-book. 7. An Elementary Treatise on Optics, designed for the Use of the Cadets of the United States' Military Academy, by WILLIAM H. C. BARTLETT, A. M., Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy in the Academy. New York: Wiley & Putnam. 1839. 8vo. Pp. 231. THE Science of Optics is not to be confounded with the Natural Philosophy of Light. In the latter department of science the nature of light is the especial object of investigation, and a prominent place is given to the discussion of the two theories of emission and of waves. All the phenomena of observation are carefully scrutinized in reference to their |