Morning journal and courier., 1885-07-10
THE L1NGUIsTs. COUNCIL.
Close or The Session Yesterday-Valu
 able Papers.

Close or The SeSS1On H0S1erdAY-Valu.
 able Papers.
 The seventeenth annual convention of the Pathological association being held in the Sloan building on Liberty street closed yes terday after very successful session of three days. The first paper read at the ses- sion yesterday was by Professor Augustus c. Merriam, of New York, on f'The Gortyua Inscription" The next paper read was by Rev. Dr. c. K. Nelson, of Brookville, Md, on the subject ''The Gothic Bible of Ulflas,' during which he made clear the history of several of the earlier languages of the earth. Professor w. s. Scarborough, of Wilberforce college, O., colored savant, read paper upon "Fatalism in Homer and Virgil" This paper was exceedingly interesting one and after the reader had finished quite lengthy discussion was carried on by several of those present.
 In his discussion of the Gothic Bible of Ulflas, Rev Dr. Nelson advised that the bibles of seven or more of the standard lan- guages should be taken in order to fully un- derstand the Gothic. Especially so in the case of the first St. John, which had the acme of divine thought. The Gothic manuscripts do not date back farther than the fifth cen tury and there is no trace of the alphabets which took the place of the Runic. Ulfilas was a bishop, born in the latter part of the Sd or beginning of the 4th century, and he was nearly 100 years old when he died. He preached and wrote in Latin and Greek, but his tracts and discourses are lost, ex- cept few fragments preserved in Rome and very few other cities of Europe. These are all the scraps we have of the Bible of the people who conquered Rome. The text of this Gothic Bible is sufficient to show us that Ulflas despised the Greek, preferring the Gothic language. The speaker repeated the Lords Prayer in the Gothic, pronounced, he said not of course from any knowledge of the Gothic speech, but from what he generally knew of the Anglo-Saxon tongue. The prayer sounded very much, to an untrained ear, like the modern German. It would, said the speaker, be improper to regard the Gothic as the source of modern Teutonic. The Scandina- vian was much nearer related to the Gothic. So were the old English, old High German, old Saxon and old Morse. The speaker showed how grammar became changed as the Gothic gave place to it's succeeding Ian guages. The infection on sound system of found in the languages which were formed from it. The transmission of the Gothic speech sound was after the Greek style and gave corrupted orthogra- phy. Gothic was the only Teutonic which had preserved 1he vocative in the nomina- IlVe. It IS unloue ID reIaln-nS the old pro nunciation by simply following the deriva- tion with necessary syllables to carry out the idea. The language often drops final short vowels, but they are preserved in old High German and other dialects.
 After the discussion Professor Whitney, of this city, spoke on ''The Sixth and Seventh florists in Sanskrit, he being followed by Professor T. D. Seymour, of this city, on the Feminine Caesura in Homer" The other speakers on interesting subjects were Dr. E. G. Sihler of New York, Dr. B. w. Wells of Providence, R. l., and Albert s. Cook of Col. After the convention, which closed about 3 o'clock, a meeting of the Spelling Reform association was held.
 The society's financial statement shows 8 balance on hand of $713.02, the receipts during the past year being $1,532.75. An auditing committee was appointed consisting of Professor Hardness and MT. Bucking-