should not be redundant, each object being represented by one word and no more.
While such a conception of language is of logical value, it is evident that it could only seriously recommend itself to one who lacked all appreciation of literary style. Objects are limited, but the ways in which they may be viewed are indefinite, and it is the possession of several words of varying etymological significance to express different aspects of the same conception that lends a language its charm.
In the domain of comparative philology we find Leibnitz to a large extent anticipated. The similarities between the chief languages of Europe prove beyond a doubt that they have a common origin, and this can be none other than Hebrew. In proof of this assertion he purposes, so he tells us, to write a comparative lexicon of the five chief languages of Europe. It is scarcely necessary to say that the choice of Hebrew as a root-language is suggested by religious associations and by the Scriptural account of the manner in which diversity of language originated. The difficulty of intercourse between nation and nation, for which the Tower of Babel is answerable, can be overcome by the adoption of some one language as a medium of communication. Here Comenius forgets his former decision in favour of a philosophical language, and casts his vote for Latin. After giving at length the arguments of Vives, he adds a few of his own. Latin is easy to pronounce, and in this respect possesses an advantage over most modern tongues. It is free from the difficulties of the Hebrew ham and of the Arabic hha. It has no th like English, no nasal vowels like Polish, and its consonants are not sometimes hard and sometimes soft, as in the Slavonic languages. Hungarian words are monstrously long, Chinese and, to a large extent, German words are too short, and have to be joined agglutinatively; but Latin vocables are of a medium and practicable length.
This prominence given to Latin as a link between nation and nation is not to discourage the cultivation of modern languages. On the contrary, it is of great importance
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