China's Place in Philology. By Joseph Edkins, BA. (Triibner.)— 'The
present writer is not one of the few Englishmen who have a right to give an opinion on the merits of a book on the affinities of Chinese with the Aryan and Semitic languages. He can do little more than call attention to the work which Mr. Edkins, who has laboured in China under the auspices of the London Missionary Society. When the author says in his introduction that "alike for the vindication of Scripture and the progress of knowledge, the comparison of the Eastern Asiatic languages with the Western is a task which must be under- taken," he is not unlikely to suggest a doubt as to the impartiality of his mental attitude. The "vindication of Scripture" is a result in which no one could more heartily rejoice than ourselves, but it is not well to have this or, indeed, any conclusion set before the mind as the object in which it is desired that philological inquiries should result. And when we find Mr. Edkins pressing into his service the well-worn " homo sum, humani nil a me alienum pato," as a proof that Terence felt that "all mankind are of one original parentage," we are not very favourably impressed with his judgment. These, however, are criticisms which do not affect the essential value of the book. This
lies in the laborious collection of linguistic facts by a writer who has had special opportunities of observation and study in a field where few have preceded him.
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