The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1826-01-04
MISCELLANY.

| oher autnorS VINO nave written on geogra-
ply; and his is the only work on that sub.
lect which is truly scientific. There is in
his treatise a surprising display ,of know
ledge in geology: in mineralogy; in botany,
in chemistry, in natural philosophy; in his
tory; in geometry, astronomy, and in gene
raj literature. IL is not like many other
productions on the same subject, a nero
compilation Of local facts, but IT is q com
position in which talent, erudtion, gnod
taste, much discrimination and frequent
traits of eloquence retain the attoe ION of
the reader, and often excite his admiration
We cannot render greater service to
the community, than to make this eminent
man more generally known by extracts
from his publicationl
"We have for long time considered
the earth as a physical body, having rela-
tons TO other physical bodies which sur
round IT, or which dwell upon its surface,
No sooner however, had man become the
subject of our inquiries, than we have seen
physical geography gradually give place to
political. This branch of our science con-
siders the earth according to its political
divisions, and in its relations TO the different
civilized societies which are established
upon it. 1t is evident that this department
of geography has, as well as the others,
general principles ofits own, which, taken
collectively, form heory and the know
ledge of which ought TO prccedc the study
particular descriptions. Olthese princ-
pies, however, those which, from their hav-
ing a foundation in the nature of our being,
do not change with the changes of human
opinion, are few in number. The other ro-
lations vary, if not in different kingdoms,
at least in different parts of the world; and
this induces us TO conhne ourselves here,
TO rapid view of the former class ofprinci-
Piles, resorvng for the others their proper
place in our particular introductons to the
description of each grand division of the
globe.
.4riscniate language, the noble iBheri-
tance of human nature, forms the grea,
bond ofcivil society. Few animals have Ian
guage which is drticuLdie, or possessed of
distinct and uniform sounds, and even these
scarcely amount to ten or twelve inileXons
of the voice. No animal has rational Ian.
guage whose different sounds express uni
iormly and distinctly general ideas. This
faculty Of expressing our ideas by words,
insures of itself the continued exercise OF
our memory-and without memory where
would be the understanding? II is only by
means of speech that man is reasonable
being. 1t is speech which renders the OBJ
servations, the feelings, the discoveries of
the individual, the property Of the species;
thence arise sciences, arts, civilization, and
the unlimited perfectibility of the human
race. Language, considered as moral
and physical faculty, appears then to be in
nate TO man; but the choice ofsounds, their
notifications and their combinations, must
have depended upon the will of man; natu-
raj logic has unquestionably had It's iufin-
ence, and, in addition TO it, the passions Of
individuals, their habits, the delicacy Of the
organs, the nature of the climate, and the
state Of society, would all of them contri-
butte TO produce effects. The primitive
tongues possessing a very scanty stock OF
words, simple as the manners Of those by
whom they were spoken, would naturally be
lost by becoming confounded with the more
perfect dialects which sprung from them,
Just as the primitive nations have disappear
ed, by merging in those nations celebrated
in history, to which they had originally gi-
ven birth.
But although all attempts 10 discover the
primitive tongue appear now 10 be complete
ly abandoned, philologists still do not d e
spair fixing the number ofmotier ton .1ies
| that is, Of those which, in the prnci-
pal words Of which they arc con- posed, in
the grammatical inAexions VIII .oh they n
dopt, and in the syn;ax which. they follow,
present to US n character independent oi
every other tongue. Thes o mother tongues
however, as ploy sugge st the possibility Of
a common origin,froT. their exhibiting SOME
distant traces ofres enblance, form amongst
thepselves, fam .ies, without any of them
b,,inr nhln 10 cl lim nrn-eminence In point ol