which create much havoc in our community, the causes of which we are as yet too ignorant to discover. Our cities are overthrown and levelled to the earth by convulsions for which we cannot account; and the fire from heaven sometimes descends upon us, as it did even now. But we are not unduly cast down in calamities such as these, and endeavour even on the worst occasions to keep up a brave spirit, and help ourselves as well as we can. Anyhow, imperfect as we may be, we have no superiors or even equals !"

Vain little creature! yet not altogether without a justification for its vanity. When man talks in the same strain-as he often does-though more often he does not express himself with all the humility which I have supposed in this formican, is he also not a vain little creature? I think he is; and many philosophers, past and present, have been of the same opinion.

THE ALPHABET OF THE LOWER

CREATION.

T is remarkable that no modern language has a better name for the collective letters that enter into the composition of all its words than alphabet, which is an abbreviation of " Alpha, Beta," or the letters A, B, C, which is the familiar English and French expression, sometimes used instead of the Greek word. Some of the Celtic nations whose primitive languages are unfortunately perishing, call the alphabet the "tree of life," a poetical and by no means inaccurate description of what might perhaps have been still better called "the tree of knowledge." The Scottish Highlanders call the Gaelic alphabet "Bithluiseanean," or the "life of plants," a notion derived from the fact, that the name of every letter without exception is also the name of a tree, plant, or shrub. It is impossible to ascertain during what countless ages mankind were

possessed of speech, without being possessed of an alphabet and the art of writing. The invention of that art was unquestionably the greatest step ever taken by the race in the onward march of civilization; and has been the source from which all the greatest improvements, and all the noblest triumphs of humanity have sprung.

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That these may be language, without letters, is evident, with or without the experience of barbarous races. Some of the guttural and other sounds that are employed by these primitive tribes, are not to be easily, if at all represented by any of the alphabetical signs in use among civilized communities, for the human voice has a far greater number of tones and inflexions, including the gutturals, than symbols have ever been invented to represent. The English has nominally six vowels, "a," "e," "," "o," "u," "y," but by means of diphthongs and triphthongs, or the combination of two or three of these with each other, as many as nineteen different vowel sounds in use in the English language can be exhibited in writing. “A” has at least four sounds, as in fat, fate, far, law. "E" has three, as in eke, set, err. "I" has three, as in bite, bit, irreligious. "O" has six, as in our, hot, nation, moon, joy, low. "U" has four, as in urgent, muff, refuse, dubious. The consonants in a similar manner express by their combinations, a

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great variety of sounds which in a perfect language, with a perfect alphabet, if such were possible, would each require its own symbol; such as "fr," "gl,” "ch," "bl,” “br," and many others which will at once suggest themselves to every reader.

But man is not the only animal that has the power of uttering the alphabetical sounds of vowels and consonants, though he is the only one that possesses the art of writing them. There is, so far as is known, no bird or quadruped that does not in its pleasure, or its pain, its satisfaction, or its terror, emit some vowel sound, sometimes in combination with a consonant, and sometimes alone. The dog has the guttural "ough," and three consonants, the "b," the "f," and the "w," and one vowel, "ow;" as in its well-known exclamation, "bow-wow," "wough," and the angry barks of "wowff” and "wuff." The bovine species have but one consonant and two vowels, as in "mu" and "ma." The full-grown sheep has two consonants and one vowel, as in "baa," and "maa;" while the lamb has "may" and "bay." The cat has two consonants and three vowels, as in "miau" and "purr;" while many animals emit guttural and other sounds, which strike upon the human tympanum so imperfectly and so confusedly as to be scarcely representable in writing. The horse has evidently one consonant at the command of his voice, which is "n," and several

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vowels and gutturals that glide very unmelodiously into one another when he neighs, whinnies, or snorts. Swift, in the only repulsive story in the travels of Gulliver, represents the neighing of the horse by the rugged and unpronounceable word "honyhnhnm." In nearly all the languages of Europe, in the attempt at literal rendering of the horse's utterance the letter "n" is employed. The French translate it by "hennir," the Italians by "nitrire," the Germans by "wiechern," the Spanish by "rinchar," and the Dutch by "runniken" and "gennishen. The pig has the thick guttural sound of "gr" combined with m and f, from whence we derive the descriptive words "grumph" and "grunt." The roar of the lion is an intensification of the " mu of the bull, with a mingling of the r. Smaller animals, such as the squirrel, the rat, and the mouse, employ the vowel "e," with two indistinct consonants, which the English language imitates in the words "week" and "squeak." The alphabet of quadrupeds is thus very limited, being confined to the labial consonants, "b," "f,” "m," and "w," and the dental consonant "n," peculiar to the horse. The vowels at their command are "a," "aa," or "ah," 66 aa," or "ah," "o," "oh," 00," or ee," and the gutturals "ough" or "ugh." No sound of "i" appears, unless it be in the indistinct whinnyings of the horse or ass.

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