He then gives a specimen of an ancient Danish MS. of a date prior to the Reformation, which, “like all MSS. prior” to that event, “differs widely from the present Danish.... It has many _inflections now obsolete_, but which are to be found only in Old Swedish and _Icelandic_; many antiquated _words_ and phrases, exempli gratia, then annin,” Icelandic “thann annan.” He then mentions some words contained in this MS. which are still preserved in “the _provinces_ of _Upland, Jutland, and Dalecarlia._” He next notices an old Swedish document issued by King Magnus Smik, of which he observes: “This, although about a century older, greatly resembles the preceding specimen, and is scarcely distinguishable from the Danish of the same period.... But if we go further back to the language of the old Danish Laws, we there recognize nearly the _entire structure_ of the earliest Swedish, and the Icelandic though not always strictly adhered to, as the language in those unhappy and turbulent times which preceded the Calmar Union, underwent in Denmark what may be termed its _fermentation_, somewhat earlier than in the other states.” He then gives a specimen from the Ecclesiastical Laws of Zealand, of which he observes: “The few deviations from the Icelandic bear, for the most part, _a strong resemblance to the Swedish_. ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ “But the oldest remains of the Danish language are to be found on our Runic stone monuments, and here at length it perfectly coincides with the earliest Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic. ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ “The Danish is closely allied to the Swedish, and both, in the earliest times, lapse into the Icelandic, which, according to all ancient records, was formerly universal over all the North, and must therefore be considered as the parent of both the modern Scandinavian dialects.”(45) On the subject of the differences of dialect in the different _provinces_ of the Northern Kingdoms he says that, “In Norway as well as in Denmark one province terminates its verbs in _a_, another distinguishes all _the three genders_, while a third has preserved a vast number of _old_ WORDS _and inflections_ which to the others _are unintelligible_.” We have thus a proof that even in the provinces of the same kingdom there are differences of “_words_, grammar, _and inflections_.” The difference _in the number_ of _genders_ is a very remarkable one.