WCP498

[1]¹

Priestgate House,

Barton On Humber.

Hull,

Jan[uary]. 8, 1904

Dear D^r Wallace

I return your Paper on Speech² 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's 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 D^r. Carl Abel⁶ of Berlin, Noiré⁷ himself, 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 ay 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

Rob^t Brown Jun^r [signature] [4]