The history of controversy, in short, in all ages and nations, is a history of disputes about words. The hardest problems, the keenest negotiations, the most momentous decisions, have turned on the meaning of a phrase, a term, or even a particle. A misapplied or sophistical expression has provoked the fiercest and most interminable quarrels. Misnomers have turned the tide of public opinion; verbal fallacies have filled men’s souls with prejudice, rage, and hate; and “the sparks of artful watchwords, thrown among combustible materials, have kindled the flames of deadly war and changed the destiny of empires.”
FOOTNOTES:
[35] “Westminster Review,” September, 1856.
[36] “Essays,” Cotton’s edition.
[37] “Chapters on Language,” by F. W. Farrar.
[CHAPTER XIII.]
NAMES OF MEN.
“Imago animi, vultus, vitae, nomen est.”
L’étude des noms propres n’est point sans intérêt pour la morale, l’organization politique, la legislation, et l’histoire même de la civilization.—Salverte.