our
seeking. But the question of questions relating to Language is not
answered by it. Why should the abstract idea of measuring be expressed
by _ma_; and that of thinking by _man_? How did _an_ come to signify
pressure; and _ga_, going? Is there any special relationship between
these roots and the ideas which they respectively indicate? Or was it by
chance merely that they were adopted in connection with each other?
Might _da_ just as meet have been taken to denote doing, and _kar_,
giving, as _vice versa_? Has the root _an_ any distinguishing
characteristics peculiarly fitting it to suggest _choking_ or
_pressure_? Or might that notion have been equally well expressed by
_stha_?

It is at this fundamental stage of the investigation, whence a true
_Science_ of Language must take its departure, that the labors and
disclosures of Comparative Philology cease; leaving the problem of the
Origin of Language involved in the same state of unintelligibility with
which it has always been surrounded. It is just at this point, however,
that the SCIENTIFIC UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE previously noticed begins its
developments. By means of its assistance we may hope, therefore, to
arrive at a satisfactory solution of the problem in question, and,
through this solution, at a clear understanding of the more specific
objects of our present inquiry. Before approaching this main object--the
exposition of the general character of the NEW SCIENTIFIC UNIVERSAL
LANGUAGE and its relations to existing Tongues--and still in aid of that
purpose, I must offer some further comments upon the excerpts already
made from 'The Science of Language;' and upon a few other points which
remain to be extracted from that work.

Of the four or five hundred roots which remain, the insoluble residuum
(so thought by Professor Mueller) of Language, after eliminating the
immense mass of variable and soluble material, he says: 1. That 'they
are _phonetic types_ produced by a power inherent in human nature;' 2.
'Man, in his primitive and perfect state, was not only endowed like the
brute with the power of expressing his sensations by interjections, and
his perceptions by onomatopoieia [mere imitation of sound]. He possessed
_likewise_ the power of giving _more articulate_ expression to the
_rational conceptions of his mind_.' The italics here are, again, my
own, introduced for more emphasis and more ready reference to the
central thought of the writer. 3. 'That faculty was