ich, by the common consent of almost all nations, has been
thought most properly to symbolise this organ is a spring--_fons_, [Greek:
pege].

Thus, from [Hebrew: `IYN], _manare, scatere_, a word not in use, according
to Fuerst, we have the Hebrew [Hebrew: `AYIN], _fons aquarum et
lacrimarum_, h. e. _oculus_. This word however, in its simple form, seems
to have almost lost its primary signification, being used most generally in
its secondary--_oculus_. (Old Testament Hebrew version, _passim_.) In the
sense of _fons_, its derivative [Hebrew: MA`YAN] is usually substituted.

Precisely the same connexion of ideas is to be found in the Syriac, the
Ethiopic, and the Arabic.

Again, in the Greek we find the rarely-used word [Greek: ope], a fountain,
or more properly the _eye_, whence it wells out,--the same form as [Greek:
ope], _oculus_; [Greek: ops, opsis, optomai]. Thus, in St. James his
Epistle, cap. iii. 11.: [Greek: meti he pege ek tes autes opes bruei to
gluku kai to pikron].

In the Welsh, likewise, a parallel case occurs: _Llygad_, an eye, signifies
also the spring from which water flows, as in the same passage of St.
James: _a ydyw ffynnon o'r un llygad_ (from one spring or eye) _yn rhoi
dwfr melus a chwerw?_

On arriving at the Teutonic or old German tongue, we find the same
connexion still existing: _Avg_, _auga_,--_oculus_; whence _ougen
ostendere_--Gothis _augo_; and _awe, auge, ave, campus ad {26} amnem_.
(Vid. Schilteri, _Thes._, vol. iii. _ad voc._) And here we cannot help
noticing the similarity between these words and the Hebrew [Hebrew: Y'OR],
which (as well as the Coptic _iaro_) means primarily a river or stream from
a spring; but, according to Professor Lee, is allied to [Hebrew: 'WOR],
light, the enlightenment of the mind, the opening of the eyes; and he adds,
"the application of the term to water, as _running, translucid_, &c., is
easy." Here, then, is a similar connexion of ideas with a change in the
metaphor.

In the dialects which descended from the Teutonic in the Saxon branch, the
connexion between these two distinct objects is also singularly preserved.
It is to be found in the Low German, the Friesic, and the Anglo-Saxon. In
the latter we have _ea_, _eah_, _eagor_, a welling, flowing stream; _eah_,
_aegh_, _eage_, an eye, which might be abundantly illustrated.

We could hardly fail to find in Shakspeare some allusion to these connected
images in the old tongue; no speck of beauty could exi