Bourke Ulick J. Aryan Origin of the Gaelic Race and Language
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2-iO
LAWS WITHIN
LAWS.
world,"
says
Job,
"
and
looks
on
all
things
that
are
under
heaven.
He mads a
weight
for the
winds and
weighed
the waters
by
measure.
He
gave
law
for the
rain
and a
way
for
the
sounding
storms.
He
saw
it,
and
declared
it,
and searched it."
Grimm's
law,
which
governs
the
interchanges
of
phonetic
variety
and
of
dialectic
renewal
known
to
philologists
is
as certain
as
Newton's
laws or
Kepler's
laws
in
astronomy
;
or as
Boyle's
or
Marriotte's
law
in the science
of
chemistry.
Each is
the
result
of
scien-
tific
induction.
Each
law is a
glimpse
of
the
mind
of
the
Creator. Grimm's
linguistic
law
is of
this
class.
LAWS
WITHIN LAWS
PHONETIC
DECAY,
DIALECTIC
BE-
NEWAL.
One
who
has not studied
with
sufficient
care
those
principles,
which
according
to
the
teaching
of
the
masters
of
physical
sciences,
affect matter
and exercise a
directing
influence
over its
varied
forms
solid,
liquid,
and
gaseous
is
sometimes
surprised
to find
effects
produced
quite
different
from
those
which,
in
the
circumstances,
he
had been
led
to
expect.
The
surprise
of
the
student will
be
increased
when
after
fuller
investigation
he shall
have
found
that
such
results
spring
from
the
guiding
action of
another
law,
which,
compared
to the
former,
seems like a
law
within
a
law.
The
Fame
intelligent
director of
the
general
law
has
made
these
exceptions.
He
alters and
directs
the
action
of
nature
as
He willeth.
1.
By
the law
of
gravitation,
water
flows
down
an
in-
cline.
J3y
the
inner bw
of
capillary
attraction,
fluids
ascend
;
that
is,
they go
up,
when
by
the
general
law
one
expects
them
to
go
down.
2.
Fluids
expand
with
heat and
contract
with
cold.
But as
soon
as water arrives
at a
certain
degree
of
cold-
SECRETS
OF
SCIENCE.
241
ness,
it ceases
to contract
and
suddenly begins
to
expand
;
and
on
freezing,
is
found to
expand considerably.
3.
Cohesion
is
a
law
of
nature,
but
in
gases
one finds
expulsion
when
cohesion
ought
to take
place.
4.
In
the
downward
pressure
of solids and
fluids forca
is
always
in
proportion
to
weight,
but
in
the
hydraulic
paradox,
the
weight
of one
gallon
of water
can
be
made
to act with
the
pressure
of a thousand tons.
This is
strange.
5.
One
line
continuously approaching
another must
eventually
meet
that
other,
but
in
the
parabola
the
asymptote
continually
approaches
the
curve,
and
yet
Bcience
proves
plainly
that
it
never
will touch the
curved
line.
6.
Every
child
is
aware,
just
as well as if
he were a
member
of the
fire
brigade
in
a
large city,
that
water
quenches
fire
;
that there is
a
destructive
war
ever
being
waged
between the
elements
of water and
fire,
so
that,
water in sufficient amount
destroys
fire
;
in
a
word,
that
water and
flame
cannot
exist
together
in
the
same
place
;
yet,
it
is
a
fact,
that
oxy-hydrogen
light
will
blaze in
the
midst
of water
;
further
still,
water
reduced to
its
original
elements of
oxygen gas
and
hydrogen, produces
light
the
most brilliant and heat the most
intense,
by
igniting
the
gases
just
in
the
same
ratio of
combining
elements,
that
are
required
in
the
production
of
water from
the
union
of
oxygen
and
hydrogen gases.
7.
A
ray
of
light
viewed as
coming
from a
luminous
centre is
simple,
yet
by
means
of
a
solar
spectrum
it
is
resolved
into
those elements which
produce
the
primary
colours,
and
each
colour
or
subdivision of a
ray
of
light
is
itself
the
product
of a
number of
lines,
or of
undula-
tions.
The
length
of the
waves which
causes,
for
in-
stance,
the
red
ray
is
such,
that
it
would
take
thirty
242
MAN'S MIND INCAPABLE
seven
thousand
of
them to make an
inch,
and
that
for
the
same
red
ray,
there aie four hundred and
fifty-eight
billions
vibrations of
the ether
in a
second.
For
the
violet color
there
are
sixty-five
thousand
waves
in an
inch,
and
seven hundred
and
twenty-seven
billions
of vibrations
in
a
second,
8.
Some
laws
are as certain as
that
the
sun
shines,
but
quite beyond
the
comprehension
of
man's mind :
For
instance,
the
tropical
year
is
being
shortened three-
fifths
of a second
in
the
space
of one
hundred
years.
9.
The sidereal
year
is
being
lessened in
length daily,
so
that
it
will be shorter
than at
present
by
a
second of
time
in
a hundred
and
sixty-five
thousand
years.
This
is
wonderful.
10.
The
plainest
action
of the
eye
is a
mystery
to
a
man
of
science.
How
is
the
point
of
a
pin
seen
?
By
rays
of
reflected
light
from the
pin entering,
as
photographers
know,
the
pupil
of
the
eye,
in
the
same
way
as
they
enter
the
double
convex
lens
in
a
photographic
camera,
and
leaving
their
impression
with
the
image
on
the
retina
at
the
back
of the
eye.
The retina
conveys
the
sensation,
that
is the
image
to the brain the
brain
to
the
mind.
iS'ovv,
if
ten millions of
eyes
were to
look
at
one
pin,
they
should
all see
the
pin's
point,
that
is ten
millions
of
rays
pass
from the
point
of the
pin.
An
equal
num-
ber
pass
from
every
other
point.
Hence
millions
on
millions
of
rays
of
reflected
light proceed
from
an
object
one
inch
in
length.
What
myriads
come
from
the
end-
less
variety
of
objects
which,
at one
view,
come
within
the
sphere
of
vision.
No
mind
can
conceive
the
thought
which
is
capable
of
compassing
the
specific
calculation.
And
yet
all
these
myriad
rays,
bearing
their
respective
images,
cross
each
other
every
moment
that
one in
any
illumined
space
beholds
objects.
OF COMPREHENDING THE
WONDERS
OF
CREATION.
243
11.
Who can
comprehend
the
wonderful
fleetness of
light
ia
round
numbers,
two
hundred
thousand miles
a
second.
That is
something
prodigious.
Who
can
know
how
the electric
fluid runs
along
the
wire and
through
the wire with
the
speed
of
light
?
More
wonderful,
still
how is it
that
two
currents
of
the
electric
fluid
will rush from
opposite
batteries with
the fleetness of
light
at
the
same moment and
through
the same
wire,
and not
meet,
or,
at
least,
not
disturb in
the least
their
relative action
?
12.
The
phenomena
of
the
electric fluid
are
bewildering.
Positive
electricity
is
not
negative,
and
negative
is cer-
tainly
not
positive
;
yet,
the
negative
will
produce
tho
same
results as
the
positive.
Each
will
cause a
magnetic
current
to
pass
at
an
angle
of
ninety
with
the
line of
direction of
the
electric current.
How
magnetism
produces electricity,
and
electricity magnetism,
is
a
mys-
tery.
How
does
electricity
build
up,
and
vet
destroy
combine
and
lock
together,
as
if in a
vice,
the
elements of
matter,
even
water,
arid all the
wLile
never
cease
to
elimi-
nate and
to
waste all the
component
elements,
to
pass
away
and
yet
never be
lost
? How is that
positive
and
negative
electricity,
with the
magnetic
fluid,
are
three
distinct
fluids,
and
yet only
one fluid
? These are
a
few
of
the
astounding
counter
laws
which
come
under
the
notice
of
men of
science
in
viewing
the
works
of
God.
CHAPTER
X.
NINETEENTH
Another Law in
Irish-
Gaelic :
the
Law
of
Vowel
Assimilation.
The former
Law
relates
to the
Consonants,
this to the
Vowels,
and
their
Phonetic
and
Orthographic
Influence.
Rationale
of the
Law of
Vowel
Assimilation.
The
Atlantis.
The
Division
of
Vowels
into Broad and
Slender is
true,
viewed
Philo-
sophically.
It
is
true,
in
fact,
in
Irish. It
has
been
known
and
practised
two thousand
years
and
longer.
The
Ancient
Rule
"
Caol
le
Gaol,
agus
Leatan
le
Leatan"
is the Law of
Vowel
Assimilation
literally
Crystalised.
Traces
of the
Phonetic
Vowel
changes
in
the
Romance
Languages
show
that
there
was
a time
when
the
law
in the
early
Latin
and
Greek
mother
tongues
had
been
fully
known.
What
does
French
say
? What
does
Italian,
Wallachian,
Spanish
say
?
What
does
the
English
?
Conclusions :
Objections.
The Palatal
Power
of
"e"
and
"i."
These
affect
the
Consonants
by
their Palatal
Influence. The
results
of
the Vowel-Law
in
Gaelic
uniform,
unchangeable.
Hence the
Spelling
and the
Sounds
alwayp
sure. All
this
bespeaks
the
reality
of
the
Law.
The
results
two-fold,
extending
along
the
whole
field of
Gaelic
Pronunciation,
and
directing
the
system
of
Gaelic
Spelling.
Examples. Beauty
of the
system
in
Irish-
Gaelic.
How
to
know
English
words of
Keltic and
not German
Origin.
A
Discovery.
The
new
and
important
subject
Grimm's
law and
its
relation
to
certain
rules
and
usages
in
Irish,
have
been
fully
discussed
and
explained.
How
the
principle
on
which
it.
is
founded
has been
by
a
process
of
induction
ANOTHER
LAW.
245
reached,
and
what
is
the
character
of the
law
itself,
have
been shown.
Its
permanent
and
uniform effects
;
the
identity
of
these
effects
with
kindred
processes
of
aspi-
ration
and
eclipsing
in
Irish-Gaelic,
and
the nature
of
physical
laws,
have
been
pictured
in these
pages
just
past.
There
exists
to
a
degree,
quite
remarkable
in Irish-
Gaelic,
another
law
which
may
be
called
tlie law
of
vowel
assimilation,
possessing
a
vitality
that
has lasted
for
two
thousand
years
and
longer,
and
exercising
a
phonetic
influence
which
completely permeates
the
spoken
language,
while
it
controls
and directs
the rules
of the
written Gaelic
speech.
The
foregoing
law,
allied
to
Grimm's,
which
is the
fountain
and
source
of
eclipsing
and
aspirating
in
Irish,
is founded
on the
principle
of consonantal
harmony,
and
affects
the consonants
only;
but
this
law
affects
the
vowels
chiefly,
and rests
on
the
principle
of vocal
pitch,
or
comparing
vowel sounds
to notes
in the
musical
octave,
on
their relative
height
in the scale
of
harmonic
sounds.
In the
explanation
of the
subject
of classic
pronunci-
ation
(pp.
122,
130
of
this
volume)
it is shewn
that the
vowels
in
Irish
are
five
;
that
they
are
pronounced
just
as
they
had
been
pronounced
(p.
127)
by
the Latin
races,
from
the
days
of
Plautus
to
Suetonius
;
that
the
sound
of
a
is
aw,
never e.
e as
first
e
in where.
i as
i in
pfque.
o
as
o
in
told.
u
as
u in
rwle,
or GO
in
tool. See
pp.
127,
128.
"
Irish
or
Keltic,"
remarks
Geddes,
"
is,
in its
pronun-
ciation,
ever sound where
the
Scottish
and
English
are
false.
It
can be
shown,"
he
says,
"
to
be
sound
where
both are
false.
Lecture,
p.
9.
"
The
phenomenon
presented by
most
letters
in
English
246
RATIONALE OP
THE LAW.
of sound
and
sign, having
but
a
fortuitous
conne
ction,
is
nearly
unique.
The real
sound
is
quite
different in
Eng-
lish from
that
which
one is
taught
to
give
it.
There is
nothing
like this
in
any
language.
At
all
events,
there
is
nothing
in
Irish
like
such
irregularities.
"
The
pure
vowel sound of
'
a'
exists
in
English
in
the
1
a'
in
far
;
of
'
a' in most
words
in
which that
letter
occurs.
But the
"
e,
i,
u,"
(in English)
do not
represent
perfect
vowel
sounds,
but
mixed
ones,
and we
have ac-
cordingly
to look for the
true
simple
vowel
sounds
un
der
otherri
;
thus
'
e'
will
be
found to
be best
represented
by
the
'
a' in nimz
'
i,'
by
the
'
e' in theme
;
while
'
u'
is
expressed by
the
'oo,
in
cool".
Atlantis,
No.
1,
p.
16.
"
In
English,
e'
long
has
evidently
lost
its
original
Bound,
for
it is now
pronounced
ec
(not cli)
;
like
'
i'
lony
in
all
ancient
and
modern
languages."
Dr.
'Donovan.
And the
learned Doctor
remarks,
"that
'
e' still
keeps
its
ancient
long
sound
in a
few
words,
as
in
ivhere,
there,
ere,
in which words it
corresponds exactly
with
'
e'
long
in
Irish."
p.
11.
What
diphthongs
are,
has
been
shown
in
p,
127.
And
in
pages
193, 194,
the
four
distinct
sounds of
consonants
in Irish is
plainly proven.
RATIONALE
OF THE LAW
OF
VOWEL
ASSIMILATION.
The
vowel
sounds
have,
by philosophical
writers,
been
viewed
in the
light
of
musical
notes,
and
from
the
ana-
lysis
made,
it
appears
that
"
i"
and
"
e"
are the
highest
in
vocal
value;
and
that
"a, o,
u
'
are the
lowest
in
the
vocal
scale. This
view
is confirmed
by
the
following-
extract,
taken
from
Atlantis,
vol.
1,pp.
60,
65.
"
The reason
of
such
a
division
is
quite
philosophic,
for
every
vowel
sound
is
produced
'
by
the
passage
of the
air
through
the
opening
of the
glottis
;'
and thus
all
in-
WHAT
DOES IRISH-GAELIC
SAY
?
247
tonated
vowel
sounds
*
partake
somewhat
of
the character
of
musical
notes, while,
at
the same
time,
they
constitute
the
elements
of
speech.'
In the
musical octave
each
successive
note,
from the
highest
to
the
lowest,
is sounded
with a
volume of voice
deeper
than that
of
the note
pre-
ceding
;
and
conversely
the
preceding
is
sounded
with
a
higher,
that
is,
a
more
slender
(we
shall
so
call
it)
volume
of
voice
than
its
succeeding
note. The
two
highest
are,
therefore,
the
two
which
may properly
be
called
slender,
when
compared
to those
which,
lower
in the
scale,
are
pronounced
deep,
or
Iroad.
lu
this
manner
intonated
vowel
sounds,
as far
as
they partake
of this
musical
cha-
racter,
are
some
slender,
some
broad.
Let us
arrange
them,
then,
in the
philosophic
order,
from the
highest
to
the
deepest
; thus, i,
e, a,
o,
u.
"
There are
such
sounds,
therefore,
founded
on the
na-
ture
of
vowel
intonation,
as
slender,
and others
compared
with
them,
Iroad.
And
the
vowels
that
represent
a
slender
sound are "i"
and
"e;"
and
those that
represent
a
broad
sound
are
"a"
"
o"
"u." This
is the conclusion
at
which
philosophic
analysis
of
vowel
intonation has ar-
rived.
This is
the
clear outcome of
linguistic
investi-
gation
of
vowel
sounds.
Now,
what
does
Irish-Gaelic
say
on this nice
point
of
vowel
intonation,
and of
the
division
of
vowel sounds into
broad and
slender
?
1.
Why,
the
distinction between
broad and slender
vowels
has been
known
by
Irish
grammarians
and
Irish
writers
from the
days
of
Aongus
O'Daly
Pionn,
surnamed
the
Divine
in
the
sixteenth
century,
and of
Donogh
Mur
O'Daly,
Abbot of
Boyle,
in the
thirteenth
century,
and
long
before
these two celebrated Irish
poets
flourished.
2. It
is a
fact that
even before
the
Christian
faith
had
been
preached
and
practised
in Ireland
poetry
was
2*
O
THE VOWEL
LAW
CRYSTALISED.
fashionable,
and
Keltic
bards were a
public
institution
amongst
all
the
princes
and
sovereigns
of
Ireland.
It
is
well
known,
as
Zeuss
attests,
that
these
princes
of
poetry
fashioned
their
bardic effusions
according
to
settled
laws,
which on LO
account
could
be
violated.
What
were these
laws
?
Assonance,
or
as it
is
called
by
the
Irish
bards
"
Coiiiarda,"
was,
at all
events,
the
fourth
indispensible requisite.
Assonance
was of two
kinds,
"slan,"
or
perfect,
and
c
'bnste,'
or
broken. For
perfect
assonance it was
necessary
that
vowels of
the
same
class,
broad
(a,
o,
u)
should
chime
with
broad
;
or slender
(e,
i)
should chime
with a
slender
vowel
in the final
syllable.
Therefore,
the
division
of
vowels
now
proved
to
be
philosophically
correct dates
from
the earliest
times,
even
before
the
Christian
period.
It is
true
that in the written Irish
prose previous
to
the twelfth
century,
the
division of
the
vowels
into
broad
and
slender,
is
not so
striking
and
perceptible
as in the
writings
of
periods
subsequent
to
that time.
Neverthe-
less,
the
songs
and bardic
compositions
of
the
very
earliest
period
clearly point
to
this
division
of the
vowels
into
broad
and
slender.
Dr. John O'Donovan
says
:
"
The
principle
upon
which
this
division is
founded
is
observable
in the oldest
fragments
of Irish
composition
remaining
to us." Irish
Grammar,
pp.
3,
4. One
can
be
morally
certain,
therefore,
that from the most remote
historic
periods,
the
division
of
the vowels
into
broad
and
slender
has been
known.
TJie
ancient
rule
in Irish:
"
Caol
leCaolagus
Leathan le
Leathan"
is the
laiv
of
vowel assimilation
literally crys-
talised.
3.
The historic
truth
regarding
this
point,
like
the
round
towers,
or
the
stamped
tiles with
which the
palaces
of
Palmyra
were
built,
has been
engrained
into
the
con-
THE OLD
RULE HAS PRESERVED THE LAW.
249
stitution
of
the
language.
This
fecund
elementary
truth has
given
birth to
the
grammatical
dictum,
"
caol 10
caol,
agus
leatan
le
leatan,"
that
is a
slender* vowel
with
a
slender,
and a broad vowel
with
a
broad.
The follow-
ing
observation
is
from
the
College
Irish
Grammar,
p.
16 :
"
This
division of
the
vowels into broad
and slender
should
not be
lightly
noticed
by
the
student;
for the
spelling
of all
the words
in
the
language
depends
much,
nearly
entirely,
on
the
position
which
the
slender and
broad
vowels
hold
with
regard
to the
consonants. There
is
an old Gaelic
rule
which directs
that a
consonant,
or
consonants,
should
in
every
written
word,
lie between
either
two
slender,
or two
broad vowels
;
and
consequently,
that
a
broad
vowel,
such as
'a,'
'
o,'
'
u,'
could
not
cor-
rectly
go
before,
while
a
slender
vowel,
either
'
e'
or
'
i*
comes
immediately
after a
consonant,
but
if
a
broad
vowel
precede,
so
should
a
broad one follow
;
if
a
slender
vowel
precede,
so should a slender
vowel
follow."
Dr. John
O'Donovan
says
:
"
The influence of
the
vowels
over
the
consonants which exists
to some
extent in
every
language,
has
given
rise to a
general
rule or
canon
of
orthography
which
distinguishes
the Irish from all
the
European
languages."
Irish
Grammar
p.
3.
In
page
9
of
Celtic
Sk'udics,
frcm
the
German
of
Dr.
Hermann
Elel,
%
William
K.
^ulliian, Ph., D.,
M.R.I.A.
Williams
and
Norgate,
London, 1863,
read the
following
words :
"
The
Irish
rule of
'
broad
to
broad,
and
slender to
slender,'
may
be
looked
upon
as
progressive
assimilation,
the
Irish broad
vowels
being
'
a, o, u,'
and the slender
'
e,
i.'
Wheiever this rule
is
followed,
a
consonant
or
consonants
should,
in
every
written
word,
lie between
either,
two
broad or two slender vowels
;
or,
in
other
words,
if
the
vowel of
a
syllable
be
broad,
the
vowel
of