Nor is any thing that has ever yet been said upon it, sufficient to set the question permanently at rest.

That there is in some words, and perhaps in some of every language, a natural connexion between the sounds uttered and the things signified, cannot be denied; yet, on the other hand, there is, in the use of words in general, so much to which nature affords no clew or index, that this whole process of communicating thought by speech, seems to be artificial.

Under an other head, I have already cited from Sanctius some opinions of the ancient grammarians and philosophers on this point.

With the reasoning of that zealous instructor, the following sentence from Dr.Blair very obviously accords: "To suppose words invented, or names given to things, in a manner purely arbitrary, without any ground or reason, is to suppose an effect without a cause.

There must have always been some motive which led to the assignation of one name rather than an other."-- _Rhet._, Lect.