this of Mr. Schleyer's work is by no means to decry it, but rather, in a certain sense, to exalt it. Max Müller, after a careful study of the Mohawk language, has declared that the framers "of such a work of art must have been powerful reasoners and accurate classifiers." Professor Whitney places the structure of the Algonkin speech, in its "infinite possibilities of expressiveness," above that of the Greek itself. If any votary of Volapük chooses to claim these praises for that speech and its inventor, there need be no demur to the claim.

But these very merits, in the form in which they are displayed in the Mohawk or the Greek, are utter disqualifications for an international speech. The last species of tongue which an experienced linguist would select as a model for such a speech would be one belonging to the polysynthetic or highly inflected class. In fact, the "ideal form" of an international language would be a language without a single inflection. Such are those curious composite idioms which have sprung up spontaneously in various parts of the world as means of intercourse between persons speaking different and difficult languages,-the Lingua Franca in the Mediterranean, the "pidgin English" of the Anglo-Chinese settlements, the "Chinook jargon" of our Northwest Coast. English itself, as the Committee point out, is merely such a lingua franca or "jargon," in which the slowly coalescing Saxons and Normans learned to speak together, dropping at least four-fifths of their inflections in the process.

The requisites of an international language, so far as alphabet and grammar are concerned, may be very briefly set forth. The chief commercial languages of the world are the English, French, German, Spanish and Italian, and the proposed speech must be made acceptable and easy to the speakers of all these languages. Its alphabet must comprise no sounds, and its grammar no inflections, which are not found in every one of these five languages. This simple and essential rule will reduce the alphabet to the five pure vowels and about fifteen consonants, and the grammar to less than half a dozen inflections, all terminal,-a plural form, a past tense, a present participle, a past participle, and possibly one or two other forms. There would be added four or five rules for the collocation of words,-defining the position of the adjective with regard to the substantive, of the adverb with regard to the verb, and of the verb with regard to its subject and object. The whole grammar of the speech, alphabet and all, would not occupy more than two or three pages of the handbook, and its acquisition by any intelligent person would not require more than an hour or two of application. In fact, the international language will be nearly all vocabulary. The grammar will be merely an infinitesimal adjunct to the dictionary, instead of being, as with Volapük, the main feature of the language.

Volapük is taught in "courses" of lessons. In Vienna, we are assured, seven "parallel courses" have been going on, attended by about 2000 persons. In Paris twenty courses are spoken of. In that city, Kerchoffs has published a "Complete Course of Volapük," supplemented by an "Abridged Grammar of Volapük," and by a smaller "First Elements of Volapük." The latter, by the way, is said to have reached its forty-second edition,—a striking evidence of the need which is felt in Europe of an international

speech. One writer, Mr. Iwan Iwanowitch, has undertaken to give us "Volapük in Three Lessons;" but he does this, as Mr. Sprague's Handbook shows us, by dropping or slurring over many of its forms. Mr. Sprague, more reasonably, presents us with a series of twenty-eight "exercises." We are told, triumphantly, that apt scholars have learned to read and write the language, with the aid of a dictionary, in a week. A week! Now let us see what will be the method with the International Speech.

A merchant in Philadelphia receives a letter of some fifty words from Moscow, superscribed "International Language." He has never seen or heard a sentence of this new speech, though he has read of it in the papers.. He sends his clerk for a handbook, which he finds comprises two or three pages of alphabet and grammar, followed by a dictionary in the usual: twofold arrangement, International-English, English-International. He glances at the first pages, and takes in the few brief and simple rules. on a single perusal. He sees that he has merely to look out the words of the letter, as they stand alphabetically in the International-English part, and put them together in the prescribed order. Half an hour suftices for this simple operation. The few inflections give him no trouble, for they are precisely of the sort he uses in his own language. In composing his answer he reverses the process, and picks out the words in the English-International part. This, at the first attempt, will be somewhat slower work; but less than three hours from the time he opens the handbook will see the translation and the reply completed. A "course of lessons" for the International Language will be as needless as a course of lessons for the telephone. To learn to speak it will require merely the getting by heart of a certain number of words. The grammar, such as it is, will "come of itself," in the acquisition of a score or two of simple phrases, or in reading two or three pages of the printed language.

Every one can see that if the movement commenced by the Philosophical Society shall result in the production of such a means of communication, it will bring an enormous gain to commerce, to the convenience of travellers, to scientific correspondence, and to the friendly intercourse of nations. The creation of such a speech, and in particular the preparation of its vocabulary and the exact rendering of this vocabulary into the principal languages of Europe, will be a work worthy of the best scholarship and the finest intellects of our time. It is saying little to assert that the successful completion of this work will form a step in the progress of civilization not less important—perhaps in some respects much more important than the successful completion of the electric telegraph.

THE ARYAN RACE, ITS ORIGIN AND CHARACTER. By HORATIO HALE, Clinton, Ontario, Can.

[ABSTRACT.1]

VARIOUS theories in regard to the primitive seat of the Indo-European or Aryan race have been proposed, some ethnologists placing it in Asia and

1 This paper is published in full in the Popular Science Monthly for March, 1889. 21 A. A. A. 8. VOL. XXXVII.

some in Europe. Many circumstances combine to point to the great Iranic plateau, comprising ancient Persia and Bactria, as the region in which the race first became conspicuous. But every linguistic stock must have had its origin in a single household. There is reason to believe that the first Aryan household had its home at some point in the Deshtistan, or low country of southern Persia, bordering on the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. Thence its descendants spread over the Iranic uplands, and finally over Europe, where they conquered and partly absorbed the earlier European populations. The physical and mental traits of the Medo-Persian people, as they are described by historians, may be assumed to represent those of the primitive Aryans. They were a handsome race, tall and well formed, with features of the Greek type. In character they were brave, energetic, and truthful, but cruel, superstitious, servile and unintellectual. Their bravery and their habit of combined action, resulting from their implicit obedience to their rulers, enabled them to overcome the scattered and disunited tribes of Europe, on whom they imposed their language, and their system of hereditary government, the origin of European aristocracy. This, in its nature and essence, was a genuine caste system, previously unknown to those tribes. These pre-Aryan tribes belonged to three distinct races-Semitic in Greece and other southeastern countries, Iberian in the southwest and west, and Uralian in the north and centre of Europe. All these races were higher in mental and moral qualities than the Aryan, and especially in the love of freedom and aptitude for self-government. The modern European populations are of mixed race, but mainly of pre-Aryan lineage. Their capacity for union and their conquering energy are due chiefly to the infusion of Aryan blood, but their finer intellectual and moral qualities come from the pre-Aryan races. These races, during the last three or four centuries, have been gradually regaining their ascendency, and throwing off the debasing system of hereditary government introduced by the Aryan conquerors. To the gradual elimination of the pernicious effects resulting from the conquest of Europe by the cruel, unintellectual, and rankworshipping Aryan hordes is mainly due the immense advance in freedom, science, and morality made by the European nations in modern times. The opinion of the peculiar excellence of the Aryan languages, in comparison with other idioms, is an error which arose before the principles of comparative philology were well understood. Many languages of other stocks are superior to the primitive Aryan speech in the capacity of expression. The grammar of that speech has many gross defects, indicating a lack of logical power in its framers. The modern Aryan tongues have been gradually working themselves free from these defects.

NOTES ON AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. BY ANITA NEWCOMB MCGEE, Washington, D. C.

[ABSTRACT.]

AFTER defining Communism as the doctrine and practice of common ownership of property, and discriminating it from socialism to which it

is related on the one hand and coöperation which it approaches on the other hand, the author proceeded to describe the seven measurably successful American community systems, setting forth briefly the causes which led to their establishment, their social, moral and political attitude, their growth, and the circumstances which led to the dissolution of those no longer existing. Special attention was given to the history of American communities within the last twelve years, during which period the subject has not been comprehensively treated by any writer.

Several communities were visited during the past year by the author, and information concerning others was obtained by correspondence with former and present leaders. They are as follows: 1. The German Inspirationist Community of Amana, in eastern Iowa, now in a flourishing condition; 2. The system of communities of the celibate Shakers in the eastern United States; 3. The German Community at Zoar, in eastern Ohio; 4. The German Harmonist (or Rappist) celibate Community at Economy, in western Pennsylvania; 5. The remnant of the French Community at Icara, in southwestern Iowa; 6. The American Perfectionist Community at Oneida, New York, extinct since 1880; and 7. The Bethel Aurora-Community in Missouri and Oregon, dissolved in 1878. Each of these lasted at least thirty years, but only the first is still increasing in membership.

It was pointed out that the characteristic which distinguishes the suc cessful from the numerous unsuccessful and short-lived communities, is that the former labored under great difficulty and often persecution at their beginning and have since been cautious in the admission of new members. Finally, the author discussed briefly the desirability of community life and the conditions of stability of community organization, and concluded. first, that community life is acceptable only to individuals of unusual tastes and ideas; and second that, partly for this reason and partly because it antagonizes the family relation and runs counter to the tendency of social evolution, community organization is necessarily unstable and evanescent.

EARLY MAN IN SPAIN. BY DR. D. G. BRINTON, Media, Pa.

[ABSTRACT.]

THE Iberian peninsula presents points of especial interest to the general anthropologist and also to the Americanist. It is alleged that the most ancient remains of a man-like animal in Europe have been found there, and the affinities of the Basque language with American tongues have been a frequent subject of comment.

These oldest remains belong to the lower Miocene, and, if authentic, would show that at that early epoch, an animal who chipped flints into tools lived on the western shores of the peninsula. Palæoliths of the Chellean type have been found on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, in caves of the Cantabrian mountains, and in early quaternary river-detritus near Madrid.

An examination of the last mentioned beds proves that at the period of their deposit a large river was flowing in that locality from the northeast. This is one of many evidences to prove that at the close of the tertiary, and probably long after, an extensive land-area occupied the North Atlantic and connected the Iberian peninsula with North America. It is probable that this was the land-bridge used by the first men who wandered over to the American continent.

Neolithic stone implements are not infrequent in Spain and present striking analogies of appearance with those from northeastern America. The megalithic rock-structures, especially those in Portugal, appear to date from Neolithic times.

The Basques are a pure branch of the white race, who once extended over the whole of the peninsula, but are now confined to the valleys of the Pyrenees. Their language has many structural analogies to the Algonkin.

TRAITS OF PRIMITIVE SPEECH, ILLUSTRATED FROM AMERICAN LANGUAGES. By Dr. D. G. BRINTON, Media, Pa.

[ABSTRACT.]

THE earliest intelligent utterances of man were undoubtedly much ruder than any language now spoken. What they must have been can be ascertained to some extent by a study of the simplest existing tongues. The American languages offer exceptionally favorable materials for this, as they have been so isolated that they retain their primitive traits. The phonetics of these tongues indicate great variability combined with material significance. Both vowels and consonants have fixed meanings attached to them, but are permutable under certain vocal laws. The Tinné and the Cree offer numerous examples of both these peculiarities. Many of the consonantal sounds are double, or, as we should express it, one letter of the alphabet can not be used without another pronounced with it; thus the Tupi cannot utter the sound of b without preceding it with the sound of m. There does not appear, however, to be a fixed relation between sound and sense in these primitive utterances.

Many of the radicals, both phonetic and syllabic, mean both an idea and its opposite. The explanation of this is that according to what is known as the second law of thought an idea is defined by an equation embracing both the idea and its privative, as a = not not - a. In a similar manner primitive speech included under the same sound both the positive and the privative of the idea.

The most marked characteristic of the grammar of these tongues is their effort to express the whole proposition in one word by the process of incorporation. This is believed to be universal in American tongues. These word-sentences were disconnected, and even yet there is no well-perfected