PRIESTGATE HOUSE,
BARTON ON HUMBER.
Hull, Jan. 8, 1904
Dear Dr Wallace
I return your Paper on Speech1 with many thanks, & regard it as a most important illustration of one phase of what I call 'occult Imitation.' Whilst perfectly agreeing with your principle, I would observe (Vide enclosed Remarks) that it must be worked out with very great caution & after an exhaustive enquiry into the evidence available respecting any particular word. Mere guessing, however acute, will not carry us very far and may easily lead us astray. You really should read the Socratic Dialogue on Language in Jowett's2 Plato.3 Many of the followers of that untrustworthy authority Andrew Lang4 have come absurd croppers in their endeavour to apply totemistic principles to historical names, with the [2] earlier forms of which they were unacquainted. One gets sick of the misuse of the word scientific. Are those who believe that speech originated with children, quite sure that the egg came before the hen? I am glad you like my Paper.5 It was written by request in 1881, so of course you had not seen it when you wrote yours. It was much liked by several eminent authorities, including Dr. Carl Abel6 of Berlin, Noiré7himself, Prof. Forbes8 of Aberdeen, who styled it 'admirable', & Prof. Sayce,9 who said, 'I know of no other publication in which the present state of the question, in regard to the origin of speech, is presented with so much learning, clearness & compactness.' I am not [3] aware that any further advance in the study of the question (save your Article) has been made. It is an amusing fact that the Soc. which got me to write the Paper, tho' they printed it, declined to insert it in their Transactions on the ground that it was unorthodox. But wisdom is justified of all her children, & Knowledge, like virtue, is its own reward. I remain,
Yours very truly
Robt Brown10 Junr [signature]
[4] [The enclosure is transcribed in WCP498_7924]
Possibly Sayce, Archibald Henry (1845-1933), British Assyriologist and linguist, Professor of Assyriology at the University of Oxford from 1891 to 1919.
WCP1339 thinks it is this one…
Sayce, Octavius Albert (1862-1911). Australian bacteriologist and naturalist.
Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP498.498)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
[1]1
Remarks
P. 6. Kavanalis work is worthless.
P. 9. Brass. This is guessing. It probably means 'that-which-is hardened-by-fire'. In any word the earliest known form, or allied form, must be considered. Same principal applies to several words named, e.g. ice.
P. 10. Fire. The GK. [Greek] form is pûr. Do you think this latter form is intended to imitate a flickering motion?
I have no quarrel with the general principle, tho' doubts arise respecting its application to this or that particular word. It is obvious that sound-imitation plays a conspicuous part in the matter. The difficulty is to detect what I call this 'Occult Imitation'. Your very valuable suggestion as to 'mouth-gesture' should be worked out on a great number of words in a large number of languages. You practically illustrate Thompson's2[sic] (Archbp. of York) definition of language as 'a mode of expressing our thoughts by means of motions of the organs of the body.'3 Only we must consider the history of every word, as well as any sound connected with its existing modern form.
Robt Brown4 Junr
Jany 1904
These notes were enclosed in WCP498_L498.
Status: Draft transcription [Enclosure (WCP498.7924)]
For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon
Please cite as “WCP498,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on