Excerpt from Opuscula: Essays Chiefly Philological and Ethnographical The essays in the present volume are chiefly upon philo logical and ethnographical subjects: though not exclusively. The earliest was published in 1840, the latest in 1850. In some cases they have formed separate treatises and in some Appendices to larger works. The greater part, however, consists of papers read before the Philological Society of London; a society which has materially promoted the growth of Comparative Philology in Great Britain, and which, if it had merely given to the world the valuable researches of the late Mr. Garnett, would have done more than enough to justify its existence and to prove its usefulness. As a general rule these papers address themselves to some definite and special question, which commanded the attention of the author either because it was obscure, or because there was something in the current opinions concerning it which, in his eyes, required correction. Re searches conducted on this principle can scarcely be invested with any very general interest. Those who take them up are supposed to have their general knowledge beforehand. A wide field and a clear view, they have already taken. At the same time there are, in the distant horizon, imperfect outlines, and in the parts nearer to the eye dim spots where, the light is uncertain, dark spots where it is wholly wanting, and, oftener still, spots illumined by a false and artificial light. Some of the details of the following investigations may be uninteresting from their minuteness; some from their obscurity; the minuteness however, and the obscurity which deprive them of general interest make it all the more incumbent on some one to take them up: and it is needless to add that for a full and complete system of ethnographical or philological knowledge all the details that are discoverable should be discovered. This is my -xru-.- (if excuse be needed) for having spent some valuable turnupon obscure points of minute interest. Upon the whole, they have not been superfluous. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

ロバート・ゴードン・レイサムによる『Opuscula』は、十九世紀の知の深淵へと我々を誘う、言語学と民族誌の記念碑的論文集です。本書の真の魅力は、あえて世俗の関心から外れた「微細で曖昧な領域」に光を当てる、著者の執拗なまでの真理探究の姿勢にあります。既成概念という偽りの光を排し、歴史の暗がりに沈んだ細部を丁寧に掘り起こしていくその筆致には、知の未踏地を切り拓こうとする孤高の学究の魂が力強く脈打っています。 文学的な観点から見れば、本作は単なる学術的記録を超えた、知的な冒険譚としての趣を湛えています。断片的な情報の集積から壮大な人間文化の地図を編み直そうとするレイサムの試みは、読者の知的好奇心を激しく揺さぶるでしょう。完成された知の体系を築くために一粒の砂をも疎かにしない、その透徹した視座こそが、情報の氾濫する現代に生きる私たちに「深く知ること」の崇高さを鮮やかに再認識させてくれるのです。