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This is recognised to be one of the most important books ever written on the subject. We shall not pretend to review it from a philological point of view, and can only briefly indicate its general scope. The first quarter of the book is taken up with a highly interesting, though extremely detailed, account of the development of philology as a science; it must be one of the most comprehensive historical reviews of this kind available. The second part, entitled 'The Child', gives a similarly detailed account of the development of speech in the child from every aspect (enunciation, grammar, vocabulary, peculiarities of child speech, etc.), and also discuses the cognate topic of the part played by the child itself in the development or modification of language; a rather negative attitude is taken up on the latter point. The third part, 'The Individual and the World', deals with the relation between different languages, includes a comprehensive discussion of the causes of change in language, and devotes a special chapter to the part played by woman. The fourth part is concerned with the Development of Language, its progress and decay, the origin of speech in general, etc. The book is the more remarkable for having been written in English by a foreigner, the author being Professor at the University of Copenhagen; he possesses a faultless mastery of English, and most of his illustrations even are taken from English.
As may be imagined, the book is replete with material of psycho-analytical interest, and we will mention one or two instances of this. Astonishing examples are given of the radiation of meaning in early childhood, which make more intelligible the 'far-fetched' associations and symbolisms we are accustomed to meet with in the unconscious. Thus (p. 115) a child of eighteen months on being shewn the drawing of a pig used the same word to designate (1) a pig, (2) the act of drawing a pig, (3) and writing in general. Again, the frequency with which children