like manner, an easily recognized mark were assigned to every thing and notion, with some provision for inflections, we should have a much more easy and convenient language than any yet in being.

That suggestion, which was not, however, the one that the bishop ultimately carried out, was taken up in our own day by Don Simbaldo de Mas, envoy extraordinary from Spain to the Emperor of China, and developed in his " Idéographic." Therein he gives a list of 2600 figures, each of which has its own significancethe same sign being taken as noun, adjective, verb and adverb. (See "Science of Language," Vol. II Lecture 2). In the same connection may be mentioned the various attempts that have been made to compile a world alphabet, of which the most comprehensive and, perhaps, the latest is that of Prof. Melville Bell, an account of which is given in Science.

But of works of this kind, that which has undoubtedly attracted most attention is the Volapük, invented by Father Johann Martin Schleyer, of Constance, Baden, a treatise on which has been published by the firm of Hachette & Cie. An English translation, by W. A. Seret, has been published by Whitaker & Co., London, and Thomas Murray & Sons, Glasgow. A "Cours complet de Volapük," by A. Kerckhoffs, was also issued last year at Paris. It is sometimes called "the language of the world" as on the title page of the English translation, sometimes the "International commer. cial language," as in the title of an abridged grammar, by Karl Dornbusch, published by Hachette & Co., London, and W. Sondier, Paris.

How far it will make good its claim it is impossible to say, but it may be taken for granted that an invention which has won a large measure of approval from the scholars and business men of the three greatest nations of Europe cannot be altogether worthless, even if it should attain a success beyond what its most sanguine advocates may reasonably hope for it, there will still be occasion, for

generations to come, for the intermediation of the interpreter.

The part played in mankind's development by that useful and far too little considered functionary, the interpreter. has been an extremely important one. Whether there ever was a stage in human history where his services could be altogether dispensed with, is a question which we need not discuss. In the 11th chapter of Genesis we are told that once on a time the whole earth was of one language and one speech, but the Kōl haaretz of that passage may mean, according to some commentators, only all the land round about, that is, the region in which the Semitic tongues had their birth. The learned author of the "Histoire générale et système comparé des langues Semitiques" calls it a curious etymological myth, and explains it, in part, by the fact that Babylon was the destined meetingplace of so many different forms of speech. The gigantic tower of Belus would, he says, be naturally fixed upon as the point of departure of the nations of the then and there known world. However that be, the notion, once general, that all the languages of the earth are derived from a common parent speech is no longer of universal acceptance among men of science. Archdeacon Farrar long since discarded as an anachronism the view that language was revealed to man at the beginning of his existence, substituting therefor what he considers the more rational theory that it was a human discovery, the natural supply of men's urgent needs, for the development of which they had, however, the ground work in their vocal organs. Professor Sayce favors the view which is thus set forth in the introduction to Paley's Hesiod: "If some one language had been given to man at first, we cannot explain the phenomenon of great families of languages possessing hardly any (if any) common element. But we can easily explain this by supposing them to have been separate and wholly independent creations of the linguistic genius or faculty of man,

consequent on a distant and final dispersion of the first families."

Which ever theory we may adopt, one thing seems to be certain, that ever since men began to record events on stone, bronze, papyrus or parchment, the languages of the world have been as they are to-day, virtually numberless. The great civilized nations of the far past were brought constantly into association with peoples and tribes speaking different languages from their own. The Old Testament, the Greek and Latin writers, the records of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Persia, the literature of the Hindoos, the accredited histories of the Chinese, the Japanese and other nations of the far east, and the whole cycle of the written lore of Aryan Europe, and its kindred in the new world, tell the same story. That, in the relations, hostile or pacific, of heteroglott communities, some kind of bilingual mediation would be necessary stands to reason. We have, indeed, in Herodotus an example of the way in which trade was sometimes transacted without such aid. That enterprising tourist informs us that the Carthaginians used to have dealings with Libyan tribes who dwelt beyond the Pillars of Hercules; that when they reached their coasts, they were wont to place their merchandise on the shore and then, returning to their ships, kindle a fire, so as to produce a noticeable smoke. The natives on observing the smoke would then come down to the sea side, where they deposited their gold in exchange for the goods brought to them, and the Carthaginians having ascertained that the quantity was sufficient, sailed away. If they did not deem it a fair exchange for the commodities they had brought, they would leave the gold untouched and await the action of their customers. The latter, perceiving their object, would then add to the pile of gold until the strangers gave signs that they were satisfied. The natives then took their purchases and the Carthaginians carried off the gold which they had received as an equivalent. That this dumb

trade was in vogue to a considerable extent in early times at the outset of intercourse between civilized and uncivilized nations there is reason to believe. That it was also not uncommon among savage tribes who spoke different languages, may be inferred from the skill with which many of them have been able to converse with strangers when they have met for the first time. Instances of such intercourse frequently occur in the relations of the early voyagers and explorers to and through the American continent. The Carthaginians did not always, however, depend on the mere dumb intelligence of the natives of maritime or interior Africa. In the memorable voyage of Hanno, the Punic commander was furnished with interpreters by the shepherd tribes of the river Lixus. It is worthy of note, moreover, that it is to these friendly interpreters, who appear to have accompanied Hanno to his somewhat doubtful destination, that we owe a word which has found hospitality in the common speech, as well as the language of science, of all civilized nations. The word "gorilla," after being practically obsolete for so many ages, has been strangely revived in our generation by the adventerous traveller, Du Chaillu. As used in the "Periplus" it seems to designate a race of hairy savages, fierce and intractable, who defended themselves with staves. Three women of them were taken, but as their captors could not induce them to go aboard the ships, they slew them and brought their skins to Carthage.

[To be continued.]

It is said the first Directory of Philadelphia, published in 1785, contains the following:

"D'ORLEANS, Messrs., Merchants, near 100 South FourthStreet." These persons were no others than Louis Philippe and one of his brothers, who lived at the North-west corner of Fourth and Princes Streets, in a house standing until recently, and numbered 110.

H. M.

LORD AMHERST'S HEAD-QUARTERS,

MONTREAL.

[8th September, 1760.]

The site of Lord Amherst's camp immediately prior to the capitulation of Montreal in 1760, has been referred to lately by several of our local historians and a photo of the ruins of the old "farm house" on the plateau immediately beyond the crest of the Cote-des-Neiges Hill, has been published in the "Dominion Illustrated" as the place where these articles of capitulation were signed. I contribute my mite to the traditional story generally accepted, awaiting documentary evidence of which I understand none exists.

The story as narrated to myself many years since by an old British officer in charge of St. Helen's Island when it was occupied by the imperial troops was this: That Lord Amherst with his army having advanced through the State of Now York toward Canada, took to his boats at Oswego, crossed Lake Ontario, ran the rapids of "Long Sault," "Cedars" and "Cascades " (where he suffered heavy loss) and landed at Lachine. There he abandoned his boats at the entrance to a canal or small river in that neighbourhood,* and then advanced on the city by land. This much is authenticated.

The route taken from Lachine to Montreal is not known with certainty, but it is generally admitted that he did not follow the river bank; and to avoid the low swampy islands on the Rivière St. Pierre level, gained the Blue Bonnets terrace, and then struck across country to the heights commanding the city known as the Trafalgar property

* Within the last few years, boats embedded in the weeds have been found at the entrance of what is known as the Old Lachine Canal, a few acres south of the mouth of the first provincial canal between Lachine and Montreal.