The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-12-10
LITERATURE.
..rHE RACES OF EUROPEAN TURKEY.


ropean Turkey; Their History. Condition and Pros
pects,' in a handy volume of $50 pages accompanied
by new map showing the results of the San Stefano
and Berlin treaties. The work comprises three parts
| respectively treating of the byzantine Empire, the
| modern Greeks and the Albanians and the Turkish
slayonians. the Waachans and the gypsies. The au-
thor AS appears by the title page has preyi-
| ously written volume 1.-The Arabs and
the Turks to which this may be considered as a
companion. The date of the Introduction shows
that the work well under way before the conclu
sion of the late RussoTurkish war. and
plain an apparent anomaly in considering Turk
| ish races the Roumanians. Servians and Montene-
grins, whose countries no longer form part of Eu-
ropean Turkey. The later portions of the book. how
ever. were written since the Trcuy Of Berlin, and
bring the data down to recent period. The work
makes no pretension to original historical research.
and its chief historical authorities--Gibbon Fnay,
Neander and Minlan-are not very reconcile. Az a
compilation the work is judiciously executed; IL is
well written and embodies an amount of interesting
data which cannot readily be found elsewhere within
so small compass.
| ''THE ORIGIN, PROGRESS AND DESTINY OF THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE"
Mr.. j. W. Bouton, of No. 70d Broadway. has Just
ready handsome octave volume of 700 pages bear
ing the above title and written by the veteran Ger
man-Amercan philologist, DIR. John A. weisse. of
this city, The book Is OF high educational value.
1t is destined, IL we mistake not, to exert consd
cradle influence upon the course of pathological
study III America, and is worthy OF the attentive
examination Of all professors and teachers in our
higher institutions of learning. Representing. it
does, more than thirty years of assduous research
upon the English and its allied languages. both of the
classical and Germanic families. it ombodes world
| NJ
representative styles of English composition from
the earliest period of AngloSaxon Tor rather Kelt
Anglian) literary activity to the present day. Dr.
Wcsse has enjoyed peculiar advantages for the execu
ton OF his colossal task. Being a native OF the Ger
manic frontier of France, now incorporated in the
German Empire, his classical and professional studies
at Paris. Metz and Brussels. and professorshp
which he filled in Continental college. gave him a
thorough familiarity with the languages and litera-
ture OF Western Europe while his residence for nearly
forty years in America has given him command of all
the resources of his adopted tongue Professor Wesse
has sincere admiration for the English language
and regards it the destined instrument of the civ
ilization OF the world. The keynote of the whole
work may be found in the citation on the title page
from Dr. X. NJ. Rapps "Physiolosie der Sprache' -
1.-The other nations of Europe may esteem them
selves fortunate that the English have not made the
discovery of the suiableness of their language for
universal adoption. II is this hidden value of their
own language which DR.. weisse seeks to impress
upon his readers. resun,e of his doctrines upon
this subject was read several years since to the
American Pathological Society Of this city, and was
received with genuine and hearty appreciation. Dr.
| Weisse is by indiscriminate eulogist of
| the English language-he recognizes the mani
| fold limitations to its great career of conquest
now existing in the Inconsistencies of our orthog-
nyhv audau Of ;sx
for the gradual removal of these Irregularities
that the coming generation may realize the supe
riorty of the English language all others to
the refinement and vigor of its vocabulary clearne
of diction simplicity in grammar and directness in
construction He himself suggests a method for
writing and printing English M it is pronounced, SO
| as to remove the few remaining irregularities from
its grammar and his proposals will doubtless receive
the attentive consideration to which they are en-.
titled ut the hands of that considerable band OF
earnest aud thoughtful men and women who
have for years been laboring in the same
general direction. We do not regard Dr.
Weisses unquestionable erudition a. having
been always successful in the calculation
of difficult and complex problems of early linguistic
classification. We cannot regard his "ArioJaphetic
Ario-Semitic and Aro-Hamitic types" or the
''Thraco Pelasgic, Scytho-(iotho-9ermanic Gomero-
Celtic and Sarmato-Slavonic families Of the first
named type as scientific nomenclature. But this
is mere side ISSUE Dr. Weisse's real work is not
with classification of linguistic types and families
but with the analysis of the elements Of our
Rectangular speech and the formation of
comparative tables. and here he has achieved
an unquestonable success. No previous la
borer in this field has equalled him in
the patient analysis and classification Of the verbal
elements of English style during the Anglo-saxon
| "a n "a 4.
English "a. d. 16ools7s) periods of our literature.
very important portion of this work. though little
suited to consecutive perusal is that devoted to the
analysis of modern styles. which Dr. wcissc divides
into didactic. sacred. newspaper. politco-egal,
dramatic, historic. poetic. romantic and mscella-
neous. showing in each the existence of law of
general average in the proportions of the Latin
Gotho-Gcrmanic and Celtic words which constitute
their respective voclbularics In each literary period
and especially in the nineteenth century he has
given tabulaed extracts from representative writer's
including fifty specimens of the present century,
thirty of them being American. The chief organs of
the American press figure in this exhibit the HERALD
being represented by its short leader of March ~,
1870 on 1.-The Proclamation of the Fifteenth Amend
ment." whereby it appears that the HERALD STYLE
consists of ify-two per cent of Grnco Latin words
Of inherent meaning to forty-eight Gothic tsernanc
words We agreeaby surprised TO note that not q
single word of Commemorative or "Sarmsto- Slavic
origin is traccable in the HERAID's vocabulary,
which in point of purity is exactly on par with
that of ex-Prcsident Grant. and among thrty-ninc
competitors s surpassed in its AngloSsxon only
| by Professor c. II. Hitchcock and the New
Zealand Herald. each by one per cent. and
by Professor w. ID. whitney. Professor Huxley
and Lord Dufferin, each scoring two per cent
above the HERALD. We sorry to observe that our
esteemed contemporary. the New York Otsrrey heads
the list of offenders with vocabulary consisting Of
not less than sixty five per cen. of Grgcoa.in words
beating Queen Victoria In that sad eminence by eight
per cent and Gibbon by ten per cent.
We have space to do justice to the vast research
displayed by Dr. wesse in his very readable history
OF English styles through each successive century,
70 wealth