Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-03-06
Leef, Adam p. Bowd, and James l.. Snyder were

morning at l0x o'clock
Inc Conference then went into the election OF
Local preachers to Elders Orders, which bust
ness was occupying the attention Of the session
~hen our report closed
LHcruRE.-A very instructive lecture was de
ilvered before large and attentive audience at
the Smithsonian Institution on Wednesday eve
ming by Rev.. II. McIlvaine, of Rochester, N
y. The subject WAS "Compa rative Philology in
some Of its bearings on Etbnology, and embra-
cling some account Of the Sanscrft and Persian
Arrowhead languages" The lecturer, how
eve sSsr referred only 70 So much Of his sub
touching upon Its chronological relations He
commenced with a geographical description of
indla, ana advanced the opinion that In that land
was the location Of the terrestrial paradise I'm
which our first parents were placed by the Crea-
tor. He quoted several authors who ar0ue tbis
belief with considerable zeal, and one of them
asseIts tnat the description given by Moses of
an exact description of the Beram pootra river of
India Be this as 1t may, said the lecturer. there
Is no doubt that India is the birthplace Of the
S sSi isngaage ana OF many Of the arts and
The great antiquity Of the Sanscrit language,
which surpasses that Of any other language now
e1tant, was alluded to, and the lecturer said It
could be traced back to the time of Moses. and
how much farther be knew not These evidences
OF its antiquity consist not only in the date of
winnings stiil In existence, but also in the amount
volume that of any other language although the
art OF printing has never been applied to It until
within the present century Some Of the works
IN Sanscrit are the result Of the united labors Of
several successive authors, and upwa rds of a
century OF time was probably required for their
completion. The Sanscrit literature, too. EN-.
braces every variety Of subject now known in the
world II letters, and long before the Germans
were in existence, the subtleties Of metaphvsics
Were understood and voluminously written about
oy the sages OF India They invented the syllo-
sism, too, If it can be called an invention, long
centuries before Aristotle lived ard wrote
After some further general remarks the lecturer
proceeded with a detailed description of the
Sanscrit language. The alphabet, he said, is
c can .ne :, Deva Nagari," probably from the
wherein it first originated. 1t contains forty.
eight distinct characters letters each of which
nave never-varying and arbitrary sound or
ing TO the language, which are mute when stand
ing alone; but when combined they have pecu-
liar sounds, or rather their power is such as to
modify the sounds Of other letters with which
they combine. OF the forty-eight distinct char
acters forty-four are used to represent consonant
and four to represent vowel sounds But beside
these. from eleven letters Of the alphabet a~e
formed eleven others, the powers of which vary
somewhat, but still analogous to those from
which they are derived. And again from the
whole alphabet there are different mod ihcations
upon their combination with other letters, from
which one hundred and sixty two new characters
are eliminated.
One popularity of this antique language is
that there are no divisions Of the words in a line
European professor has recently endeavored to
obviate the difficulty Of learning the Ianuuage
which arises from this fact by ntrod ucing spaces
between the words, but the lecturer commended
that in so doing he destroys the genius and eu-
phony OF the language. In the SanScrit language
the final letter Of one word and the commencing
letter Of another word depend on each other; the
rule being that ''when dissmilar consouants oc-
cur successfully they shall be assimilated -
This the lecturer illustrated by writing "biy
dog" on tue blackboard. The rule Of the Tran
cessary The assimilation Of the sounds Of "g,, in
big and 3D. In dog and the combined
words would read "bigjog" In the case with
the yowels 81 milar rule Is observed When a
commencing with ga" the 'so'' is resolved bac X
to its elements 'au;" and the ssu'' is further re-.
solved to its primitive form Of s'v;n hence the
combination Is written "ara' instead of 'sOa"
This popularity exists, the lecturer said, in no
other LANGUAGE, except to 4 slight extent in the
Welsh or Celtic. To il is to be attributed the
euphony OF the Sanscrit tongue. The lecturer
expressed the opinion that too much attention
has been paid to euphony in he construction Of
the Sanscrit to render it valuable as medium for
the conveyance Of thought.
The FUNERAL OF CAPT. joseph B. TATE was
very largely attended yesterday despite the wea-
ther, which was the most disagreeable of the
conducted by Rev. DIR. Hall, Of the church of
the Epiphany, who attended the deceased in his
last hours. The preacher gave an interesting
and affecting account Of his later interviews
with the departed-of the patient resignation
with which the sufferer bore his pains-of the
calrnness with which he arrange ed his worldly
affairs, and Of the childlike attention and sim
plicity with which he received religious teach
lngs, and prepared himself for his departure to
another world
Upon the conclusion Of the exercises at the
house most touching scene was presented In
the agODized leave-taking by the widow and or
pbans of the remains Of the beloved deceased
and there was not dry eye in the assemblaye
The members OF the Light Infantry company
and Odd Fellows then passed by the side of the
comm TO bestow last rnournful glance upon the
pale yet pleasant features of the dead
The escort, consisting of the Infantry Capt
Davis, with Wither's Band, and Central Lod ge
the marshalsbip OF John w Hodg son. and with
Weber's Band, was formed into line, and the
long funeral procession proceeded on its way to
the Congressional Burying ground, passing down
after the Episcopal service had been performed
by the Rev. Mr.. Hall, Chaplain Martin Johnson
Of Genital Lodge, performed the funeral rites OF
the Odd Fellows, and the vollies Of the Infantry
over the grave concluded the mOurnful cremo-
MES, and the lamented one was left " In the deep
stiffness of that dreamy state Of sleep"
The funeral arrangements, we should add
were cond ucted in the most satisfactory manner
by tue undertaken, Mr.. Anthony Buchly.
CENTRE MARKKT.-The cold weather made
business lively this morning in the market pace
The supply In the fish market consisted princi.
Paily Of fish brought from the Boston, New Yorl
and North Carolina markets-as fresh cod noun
ders, shad, &c The hay market Was almost d =
| serted; few small wagons and carts were on the
stand; prices about the same as on Thursday A
| small quantity Of pork was offered at the scales
| and soon sold for 50 50 per cwt. The attendanc,
was large, considering the very cold weather
The prices In the sheds were
Beef, fresh, pr 10. 1Oa5 Dried peaches qt. .I2al
PORK ........... 1oai2 do. apples, PIX. 81
Mutton .......... IL Roll butter. ...... 25a3
Lamb, prqr......75ai col Phil'a print ...... 4,
Sausage, pr lb.... FIX Honey, per b.. 2
Lard ........... I2lOnions, per PIX. a
Veal. ............. PALS Cabbage, pr head. Gal:
Beef tongues..... Scars Apples, PIX .37aIW
Calves heads each 25a37 Beets, per bunch
Bacon ............ l2al5 Carrots ..
Shoulders ........ 1Oai2 "a,