Appendix C. loose in their signification. But general terms formed for the purpose of assisting us in our philosophical investigations ought to be founded on an accurate analysis of the nature and properties of things and by means of a very careful abstraction. We must distinguish therefore between, notions which are general merely on account of their vague and ambiguous signification and those which are general because they are formed by a careful abstraction of things and facts. MOHENDRO LAUL SHOME, Hindu College, First Year, First College Class, ENGLISH ESSAY ON Language as an instrument of civilization, with special reference to the effects which may be expected from the diffusion of knowledge through the medium of the English language in India. THE causes which chiefly affect the progress and improvement of mankind, are so much beyond the sphere of common observation, that to comprehend them truly would require a thorough knowledge of the human mind. It cannot be doubted that the amelioration of man's state, has often proceeded from purely external causes, such as the influence of climate and religion. But religion is nothing more than education in the highest sense and the influence of climate is not so great as is imagined; for the greatest diversities of intellectual and moral character prevail among men born in the same climate. We are to acquiesce in the judgment of King Archedamus, as says Dr. Arnold, that culture and training makes the only distinction between one man and another. It is education therefore which has mainly operated in altering the condition of man. It is to the different degrees of knowledge, possessed by different nations that we are to seek for the true cause of the marked superiority of one race over another. That knowledge is power is nowhere better exemplified than in the present condition of the different nations inhabiting the globe. Language is the chief instrument employed in imparting knowledge to another. The only medium through which we can successfully communicate our thoughts, is language. If there had been no such conventional mode of expressing the results of our enquiries, society would have been stationary and the progress of mankind would have been held desperate. Without language, experience would have been useless and information a mere matter of curiosity. What advancement can we expect in knowledge, if in the language of Lord Bacon, there be no "learned experience "or experience reduced to writing. To carry on any process of reasoning, language is the only instrument we use. The aids which it furnishes to abstract reasoning are indeed incalculable, so much so, that we often think as well as speak by means of words. The starting point from which we set out and the consequences we deduce from it, we frequently forget, but the last result remains in the form of symbolical expression of our thoughts, a living monument of the truth we have arrived at. Nay, it is not impossible to suppose (as it frequently happens in the exact sciences) the conclusion, to include conditions which we never contemplated and to comprehend in a single proposition, the principles of a science. The advantages derived from language in mathematics are so great that some have been led to suppose that a progress similar to that made in it, might be effected in the other sciences, if the terms be made as perfect. A celebrated French author has not scrupled to say that reasoning is nothing more than a language well arranged. But not denying the efficiency of language as an instrument of thought, we may assert that the peculiar nature of the evidence which belongs to mathematical truths arises not so much from a correct phraseology as from another source which it would be out of place to mention here. The abstract sciences such as political and mental philosophy, might be supposed at first by a superficial observer, to have no connexion whatever to the progress of civilization. Speculations on these subjects may seem not only abstruse but totally unconnected with the practical affairs of life. But when we reflect that what is a principle in science becomes a rule in art, that what is barren and unmeaning in itself becomes fruitful and significant in its application, then the apparent objection loses its force. Of the connexion of these sciences with language, it cannot be denied that the successful cultivation of the former depends upon the perfection of the latter. It follows therefore that society cannot advance in civilization where the sciences are uncultivated, or where the language has not arrived at a sufficient degree of precision and correctness. The English language has acquired a currency and diffusion through her vast conquests and colonies, unexampled in the history of the world. It seems to be in the progress of being made the general language of mankind. It is to be regarded as one of the wonders of this age and a manifest indication of the dispensations of Providence, that in India, the language of England, is daily acquiring a more general currency What would be its ultimate effect on the melioration of this country, the social and political condition of its inhabitants, it is yet in futurity to determine. But from the progress which it has already made in imparting sound and useful knowledge, it is possible to suppose that its influence will be continually increasing, that the language of scholarship and science of India, would be decidedly the language of its conqueror and that the education of it's people would be conducted through the medium of a foreign language. language. The advantages to be derived from the diffusion of knowledge by this means, are indeed immense. The discoveries in science, the knowledge of the physical comforts and conveniences of European life, the principles of Government, Institution and religion which prevail there, can all be learnt from the perusal of books in the English language, and may be thence made available by the people of this country. But the greatest effect remains to be mentioned and that is, a taste for European literature. A taste for the beautiful and sublime, a craving after truth and abhorrence of falsehood, a notion of moral beauty and deformity, these are the last and crowning effects of the diffusion of knowledge through the English language. What are external advantages compared to these! The highest earthly fortune dwindles into nothing in comparison with them. The thoughts of the greatest men, "thoughts that breathe and words that burn" would be then always present to our mind. They would take "such deep root therein" that they would form a portion of the mind itself. Milton and Shakespeare and Bacon would furnish us with thoughts that "reach beyond eternity" and "sentiments that lie too deep for tears." Such sentiments as, "I care not fortune what you me deny "You cannot bar me of free nature's grace," &c. cannot but elevate the mind and awaken in it an aspiration after a purer state of being where all earthly distinction should cease and the ultimate triumph of virtue and truth over vice and falsehood should be consummated. If there be any such state, as the very imperfection and weakness of our nature leads us to suppose, it is a consummation devoutly to be wished." 66 Isser Chunder DASS, Hooghly College, Appendix C. 1. The close connection subsisting between language and our thoughts can not fail to be the subject of observation to every one who has ever turned his thoughts to the operations of his own mind. In consequence of this connection, words have great influence not only on the communications of men with one another but also on their solitary speculations in private. But if this be the case even with the educated part of a nation, and if it true that words inaccurately abstracted from things would sometimes impose even upon those who are properly trained in the analysis of their own thoughts; how much more must it be the case with the vulgar who have seldom the opportunity or the inclination to examine any point even with the slightest degree of attention. These, generally take, upon trust, every thing relating to faith and the other higher concerns of life. They are therefore generally misled in their opinions and thoughts, by a language carelessly formed and not expressing the real nature of things. This is a source of general error which must remain in the language of even the most civilized nations. The reason of this, is simply because language must exist before philosophy comes to be cultivated and the corrected phraseology becomes current only among the learned but is quite unintelligible to the mass of mankind. But it is surely true that as a nation advances in civilization its language becomes more and more definite and expressive of the real nature of things. The highest point of civilization therefore which I can conceive, is that state of a nation when its language has arrived at such a degree of precision, that every word expresses the same idea to all men and its signification corresponds with the nature of things. But this degree of perfection in a language is merely ideal. The acquirement of the vernacular language is the only species of education (if I may be allowed to call it so) which all the members of a society can attain and therefore the degree of civilization to which a nation has arrived, will be always proportional to the perfection of its language. If a person wishes to inculcate a philosophical principle in an uneducated mind his arguments are generally refated by the assertion, that "your reasoning is contradicted by the meaning of the words you employ" and it would be an altogether fruitless attempt to convince the vulgar that the meanings of words are no sure tests of the correctness of the ideas we attach to them. Thus if a person liberally educated, tries to convince the common people of this country, that the cause of the sun's being eclipsed, is not because he is devoured by a monster, he will immediately be answered that the very meaning of the word eclipse shows that it must be as they believe. The phrases "sun rises and sun sets" might also mislead the multitude and be an argument in favor of the sun's daily motion. 2. In inculcating any truth in the minds of our hearers, the force of language, has a great influence in producing conviction. It is from this source that the whole efficacy of eloquence proceeds. It is not only necessary that what we assert should be true but if wish to bring over others to our opinion and gain their belief, we must express our sentiments in such a manner that they might strike the auditors with a conviction of their truth. Hence in educating youths (and no one will doubt the influence of education on civilization) if the vehicle by means of which the truths are conveyed, be such that they find their way directly home to the hearts of these young hopes of a nation, the work of civilization must be greatly facilitated. That the impression which any truth makes on a man's mind, has a reference to the Appendix C. vehicle by means of which it is conveyed, will not be disputed by any person who reflects for a moment on the nature and uses of the arts of eloquence and poetry. Who can ever forget any of those deep truths conveyed in the impressive language of Shakespeare and Milton? Whenever we happen to reflect on these truths the words of Shakespeare immediately recur to our mind. His mode of expressing his ideas, is such that they force their way irrisistibly to our hearts. Let the same truths lie expressed in any other style, and we will pass them unheeded by. It was for this same reason that the ancients made the language of poetry, the instrument of imparting, their precepts and moral lessons, alike, to men and children. Even their histories were written in poetry. It has been said that the great civilizers of mankind were not the legislators but the poets, and that Homer and Hesiod were greater benefactors of mankind than Lycurgns and Solon. The degree of refinement to which a nation has arrived is always surely indicated by the state of its language. If there were no other remains of the civilization of ancient Greece, Rome and India than the Greek, Latin and Sangscrete languages, these would be quite sufficient to establish their claims to the highest rank in the ancient world. 3. Those who have turned their thoughts to the successive stages through which Europe has passed in arriving to its present pitch of civilization, must have noticed the great changes brought about, by the revival of the study of the Greek and Latin languages. The age of Erasmus was a distinguished æra in the history of European civilization. It was the influence of Greek and Latin literature that changed the barbarous Goths, Visigoths, Ostragoths, Lombards, Franks and Germans, into the civilized nations of Modern Europe. If it be true that these have at present attained to the highest degree of civilization that was ever known in the world, yet it must be confessed that the first impulse to this civilization was given by the literature of Greece and Rome. If it be true moreover that the influence of the dead languages of Greece and Rome had so great an effect in changing the barbarous hordes that subverted the Roman Empire, into the most civilized nations on the face of the earth, what might not be expected from the cultivation, of the languages of these nations whilst they are yet in the vigour of their career of improvement, unimpaired by the influence of time, I say, what might not be expected from the cultivation of these, by the inventive genius of the East. The Europeans moreover could not learn these languages from the mouths of Greeks and Romans but we have always the opportunity of receiving the knowledge of the European languages, "fresh from the fountain whence it flows." theoretical errors respecting them can always be corrected by our conversation with the learned to whom they are vernacular. We may "catch their manners living as they rise." Our In taking a retrospective view of the condition of India, we find that though she was once the cradle of civilization, yet the lapse of ages and the cruelty of the bigoted Mahomedans had deprived her of every token of active civilization. The Sangscrit itself has become a dead language and the different vernacular tongues have scarce begun to be the written languages of the country. It was under these circumstances that the English language was introduced in this country and the effects have already begun to be manifest. We feel the influence of Shakespeare and Bacon upon our minds, we feel the deep impression they make, we become convinced that these impressions are not to be effaced by the lapse of time and that they must influence our actions. The Sancrete is a dead language, bringing to our minds, ideas of antiquity which bear no relation to our present life and therefore though it might afford us literary amusement, yet it can not direct us in our conduct through life. Its literature might give us excellent notions of sublimity and beauty but it can give us no lessons suited to our present condition. We Our vernacular is yet in its infancy and has no literature, properly so called. must then look up to the English language as the only means which can help us to improve our condition. It has been predicted, that the English would be the deplomatic language of this country, "that the nations of India speaking a variety of vernacular tongues shall communicate with one another in English about literary and scientific subjects. A language serving such a purpose becomes a powerful instrument of civilization to a nation. The convenience of having a common language by means of which, we can communicate with one another, about the higher concerns of life, is of high value. The attainment of that single language enables us to master the whole literature and science of the country. So that the English language will serve a very high purpose, if it enables the different nations of India to communicate with each other through its medium. I can moreover foresee that its vernacular languages, beginning to flourish at the precise time that the English language, began to be cultivated, will take a tincture from it. This has already happened to be the case with the written Bengalli, the greatest part of its present literature consisting of translations from the English. The consequences of the cultivation the English language are beginning to be perceived. English notions and ideas have begun to prevail generally and the work of civilization is going forward with rapid strides. The æra of a great revolution is fast approaching. Opinions and practices that were once ignorantly held sacred are now beginning to unloose their hold on the minds of men. But so beneficial is the influence of knowledge under all circumstances, that this revolution is going forward unperceived, without any struggle or convulsion. It is produced not by the exercise of any external force but by the conviction of truth. The spread of English literature has taught men to think more liberally and act more generously. The impression of ideas that are noble and are therefore congenial to the the mind of man when unbiassed by prejudices, and imbibed from early youth through the First College Class, Senior Scholar, of the First Grade. Appendix C. LIBRARY EXAMINATION. Questions and Answers for Library Medal. 1. Macaulay says "the end which Bacon proposed to himself was fruit." "This was the object of all his speculations." Does Bacon's Philosophy consider the physical and perishable conveniences of life man's highest good? Support your opinion by quotations from his writings. 2. Did Bacon foresee the gradual ascent which Science was destined to make from his time? And shew, by an example from Whewell's Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, that a general law includes within it all the less general laws of the same class. 3. State the objection of Hallam to the use of the English term "idols" from the latin "idola" of Bacon. 4. Did Bacon expect that Philosophy was destined to arrive at efficient causes What is Hallam's opinion of Bacon's anticipation? And Dugald Stewart's? Why does the latter call efficient causes "metaphysical,” and “necessary”? 5. The difference between the " Forms" of Plato, of Aristotle, and of Bacon? 6. State some of the advantages for the formation of a method of Discovery possessed by Philosophers of this age, but which were wanted by Bacon. 7. The most striking particulars in which the Logic of Bacon differs from that of Aristotle. 8. Bacon's opinion of Plato's Philosophy as compared with that of the earlier Greeks. Macaulay's remarks on it. Hallam's remarks on Bacon's objection to the mixture of final causes in Plato's philosophy. Answer 1st-Bacon's Philosophy did not consider the physical convenience of man as the highest good. The contemplation of truth was a far nobler object for the satisfaction of one that was endowed with the powers of reason. That he considered the latter as superior to our physical pursuits may be gathered from many of the passages from "The Advancement," "The Novum Organum," and others of his works. In his Essays he places the Essay on Truth before all others and even in the Novum Organum (the work which is to be considered as the great usherer of his phylosophy), the same conipliment is paid to truth by placing truth before utility. Again in his Advancement, when answering the objections of some of the divines against learning, he plainly says that nothing can fill, much less can it swell, the mind, but God and the contemplation of God. Lastly, when speaking of the object of learning, he says that in it is to be sought a house for the relief of man's self, and the glory of the Creator. Macaulay has said that the great object of Bacon's works, was the discovery of works. But in laying tress upon this he has, as Whewell well observes, left out the first and the better part of the passage. Bacon's great object was, first ascending up to axioms and then descending to works. But yet it may be asked why he laid so much tress on the discovery of work? The truth seems to be that Bacon was no less a sincere worshipper of truth than any of the ancient philosophers; but he liked to devote his time for the advancement of useful knowledge. The reason is obvious. All his predecessors have given themselves up to the contemplation of truth; in them truth has found many sincere and zealous devotees; but the temple of Nature was entirely forsaken. Truth could not lose much by the falling off of a single votary. So Bacon in a truly chivalric spirit took the neglected and oppressed beauty under his protection, fought for her and restored her to a throne from which she had been violently thrusted out. Answer 2nd.-That Bacon foresaw the gradual ascent which science was destined to make from his time evidently appears from some parts of his writings when he positively and exultingly speaks of the advances which it was to make. He says that the work to which he was the first to direct the attention of mankind, could not be finished by the endeavours of a single individual, but required the joint labours of ages to bring it to perfection. He himself acknowledges that the tables which he constructed were not perfect, nor could it expected Appendix C. that they should be so. Ages were to be spent in collecting materials, ages more in digesting them into tables and classifications, so that these classifications large and extensive as they are, were to be disposed of in laws of the lowest degrees of generality; and from these and other facts were to be collected laws which were next to it. In this way all the advances in the experimental sciences are but the successive steps of a great generalisation. Excellent examples of this generalisation are given in Whewell's Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences. The law of universal gravitation is a general law which has been arrived at by the successive generalisation of a variety of facts and laws less general. In the earliest dawn of the Greek Philosophy the motions of the heavenly bodies were considered as subject to no definite law; after the Greeks made some progress in it they found that all of them appeared to move round the earth, some in an equal, others in an unequal and varying interval of time. But even their irregular motions were classified by them,, and Ptolomy supposed that they moved in epycycles. Here was a law which seemed to explain a great variety of phenomena; but though it succeeded in explaining a great many facts, the retrograde, stationary and direct motions of the planets could not be occounted for. So when Copernicus flourished he supposed the whole system to revolve round the sun and not round the earth. This was in his time merely a hypothesis which was afterwards confirmed by facts. But although Copernicus rightly supposed the whole system to revolve round the sun he could not explain how these bodies were retained in space. Neither did his successors Galilio and Keplar, (the former of whom supposed the moon to be attracted by the earth, and the latter discovered their laws, of the elliptic motions of the planets, the equal description of areas in equal times, and the periodic times of the planets,) arrive at a general law by which the whole system of the world was regulated. It was left for Newton who from the observations and laws found out by his predecessors, and also from his own observations proved the universal law of gravitation. So in this law all the former laws, those of the elliptic motion, the description of areas and the periodic times of the planets were included. Answer 3rd. The chief objection of Hallam to the use of the English word idol for idola seems to be that the English word does not express the same thing which the author means to be signified by idola. Of this distinction the author himself was perfectly conscious; but the error into which some of the later writers have fallen renders it necessary that the distinction between these words should be sufficiently explained. The idolas or the false appearances of the mind are those by which we are misled not knowing that they exist. They deceive us unknowingly. But the term idol signifies a false deity to which we bow down and offer our worship in preference to what is true. The idea of a idol seems to signify that we are conscious of its existance though we take it in a mistaken sense. But the existance of the idolas or the false appearances is never known to us. The one seems to deceive us unconsciously, the other by its appearance though in a false dress. Answer 4th.-Bacon it seems inclined to the opinion that the enquiry and the discovery of the efficient causes of things was within the province of human knowledge. In his advancement he says that the enquiry about the final causes is useful, but the enquiry about the forms of things, that is, their internal organizations and formations, was useful in the production of works. According to this view of the question he seems to think it possible that we may know the internal structure of gold, and thus produce gold, that we may find out the forms of motion, heat, &c. To this opinion Hallam consents. He says that though we have not yet arrived at what is called the efficient causes of things, the discovery of the modern philosophers have advanced much nearer to what was so sanguinely anticipated by Bacon; so that though it has not yet been done the possibility of such a work may be entertained. To this Stewart objects saying that Bacon was led too much beyond the limits of the physical sciences by an uncommon success in his speculations; a fault which as we know great intellects are liable to fallin. We may mention the name of Lebnetz as having the same turn of mind. But to proceed, efficient causes as Stewart observes, cannot be exactly explained. Physical causes are what we may be said to know; but they do not explain the phenomena. Physical causes are but forerunners of particular events; we see them constantly conjoined; but how they are so linked together, whether the connexion is necessary, we know nothing about. Hence they cannot be called necessary causes. The idea of an efficient cause exists in the mind only. When we see an action we necessarily and as it were, by the constitution of our mind, think there must be a cause of that action; but what that cause is we cannot determine. Hence efficient causes are called metaphysical causes since they exist in the mind alone. Answer 5th.-The forms or ideas of Plato were the architypes of things. "The idea of a thing," says Plato "is that which makes one of many, which running into and mixing with things infinite, preserves its integrity and nature, so that under whatever disguise it may be concealed we may find it out." According to Plato there were some perfect models made by the Divine Hand which the things in nature partook. These models were called by Plato the ideas of the Divine Mind; so that there were ideas of beauty, greatness, wisdom, &c., and the things which partook of these ideas were called by these names. Things which partook of beauty were called beautiful, things, partaking of greatness great, and those of wisdom and nobleness, wise and noble. The forms of Aristotle were the architypes of natural things. The ideas and forms of Plato and Aristotle may be at first thought synonymous. But there was this distinction among them. The ideas of Plato did not exist in things; they had an independant existance; but the forms of Aristotle were impressed in matter. They existed with matter but they were not eternal like the Platonic ideas; matter could exist without form, but form could not exist without it. The |