Thesaurus, possessing, in their respective spheres, the same advan-
tages as those of the English model.[1] Still more useful would be a
conjunction of these methodized compilations in two languages, the
French and English, for instance ; the columns of each being placed in
parallel juxtaposition. No means yet devised would so greatly facilitate the acquisition of the one language, by those who are acquainted with the other : none would afford such ample assistance to the translator in either language ; and none would supply such ready
and effectual means of instituting an accurate comparison between
them, and of fairly appreciating their respective merits and defects.
In a still higher degree would all those advantages be combined
and multiplied in a Polyglot Lexicon constructed on this system.
Metaphysicians engaged in the more profound investigation of the Philosophy of Language will be materially assisted by having the ground thus prepared for them, in a previous analysis and classification of our ideas ; for such classification of ideas is the true basis on which words, which are their symbols, should be classified.[2] It is by such analyses alone that we can arrive at a clear perception of the relation which these symbols bear to their corresponding ideas, or can obtain a correct knowledge of the elements which enter into
- ↑ [This suggestion has been followed, in French, in a 'Dictionnaire Ideologique' by T. Robertson (Paris, 1859); and, in German, in a ' Deutsclier Sprachsohatz ' by D. Sanders (Hamburg, 1878), and ' Deutscher Wortscliatz, oder Der passende Ausdruck ' by A. Schelling (Stuttgart, 1892).]
- ↑ The principle by which I have been guided in framing my verbal classification is the same as that which is employed in the various departments of Natural History. Thus the sectional divisions I have formed, correspond to Natural Families in Botany and Zoology, and the filiation of words presents a network analogous to the natural filiation of plants or animals.
The following are the only publications that have come to my knowledge in which any attempt has been made to construct a systematic arrangement of ideas with a view to their expression. The earliest of these, supposed to be at least nine hundred years old, is the Ameea C(5sha, or Vocahtilarij of the Sanscrit Language, by Amera Sinha, of which an English translation, by the late* Henry T. Colebrooke, was printed at Serampoor, in the year 180S. The classification of words is there, as might be expected, exceedingly imperfect and confused, especially in all that relates to abstract ideas or mental opera- tions. This will be apparent from the very title of the first section, which comprehends ' Heaven, Gods, Demons, Fire, Air, Velocity, Eternity, Mwh : ' while Sin, Virtue, Happiness, Destiny, Cause, Nature, Intellect, Beasoinng, Knowledge, Semes, Tastes, Odours, Colours, are all included and jumbled together in the fourth section. A more logical order, however, pervades the sections relating to natural objects, such as Seas, EaHli, Tomm, Plants, and Animals, which form separate classes ; exhibiting a remarkable effort at analysis at so remote a period of Indian literature.
The well-known work of Bishop Wilkins, entitled, 'An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language,' published in 1668, had for its object the formation of a system of symbols which might serve as a universal
