P  was  a  labial  primitive ; — it  was  produced  by  a  contact
of  the  lips,  and  a  forcible  impulse  of  breath.
Twas  a  dental  primitive,  and  formed  by  a  contact  of
the  tip  of  the  tongue,  with  the  roots  of  the  upper  teeth.
-S  may  be  called  sub-dental,  formed  by  the  act  of  pressing
the  lower  teeth  with  the  tip  of  the  tongue,  so  forciblyjas  to
bend  its  surface  almost  into  contact  with  the  upper  gums.
*L,  pronounced  as  the  Welsh  hi,  may  be  named  a  gin-
gival. It  is  formed,  by  the  act  of  placing  the  tongue  evenly
against  the  upper  gums,  and  forcing  out  breath  ou
both  sides.
*Il,  delivered  as  Greek  'P,  was  a  palatal  primitive.  It
is  uttered,  by  fixing  the  sides  of  the  tongue  firmly  against  the
sides  of  the  palate,  and  by  impelling  our  breath  so  forcibly,
as  to  make  the  tip  of  the  tongue  vibrate  against  the  upper  gums.
C,  or  iv,  was  a  guttural  primitive,  formed  by  the  con-
tact of  the  tongue,  and  the  root  of  the  pahiie.
Tlie  vocal,  and  the  articulate  primitives,  already  men-
tioned, our  first  parents  must  have  possessed,  in  the  first
yeari  of  their  existence.  Their  natin-al  efforts,  to  de-
scribe by  ge-jturc;  would  necessarily  call  them  forth  inti*
action.
398

As  I  have  already  observed,  in  the  vowel,  familiarity
of  language  mu9t  have  superseded  the  constant  necessity
of  energetic  exertion.  It  must  have  been  soon  found
practicable,  to  articulate  intelligibly,  wiihout  uniformly,
forcible  impulse  of  breath.  And  t\\e  organs  of  speech,
placed  in  the  same  points  of  contact,  with  a  soft  breathing,
produce  a  duplicate  of  articulations.  Thus  P  is  softened
into  B,  T  into  i),  S  into  Z,  'L  into  jL,  *it  into  R,  and  C
into  G.
