The Melanesian Languages. By R. H. Codrington, D.D. (The Clarendon
Press.)—This volume is one of the many contributions which have been made to the sum of human knowledge by missionary enterprise. Dr. Codrington describes his volume as an endeavour to complete the work of Bishop Patteson. The Bishop was, it seems, a singularly ready linguist, but he left little of his knowledge behind him ; and it is for the impulse to the work, as he well pats it, rather than for any store of materials, that the author of this volume is indebted to him. It contains an introduction stating the relation of the Melanesian languages to each other and to other ocean languages, vocabularies, and comparative grammar, chapters on phonology and numerals, and a number of grammars. The thanks of all students of language are due to the painstaking industry of Dr. Codrington and to the liberality of the Clarendon Press.
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