Much light upon the evolution of language is obtained when we treat the speech of various races as we did the skeletal structures of cats and seals and whales. When we compare the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and French languages, they reveal the same general structure in thousands of their words,--a common basis which in these cases is due to their derivation from the same ancestor, the Latin tongue. The Latin word for star is _stella_, and the Italian word of to-day is an identical and unchanged descendant, like a persistent type of shark which lives now in practically the same form as did its ancestor in the coal ages. The Spanish word is _estrella_, a modified derivative, but still one that bears in its structure the marks of its Latin origin; the French word _etoile_ is a still more altered product of word evolution. Even in the German _stern_, Norse _stjern_, Danish _starn_, and English _star_ we may recognize mutual affinities and common ancestral structure. Choosing illustrations from a different group, the Hebrew salutation "Peace be with you," _Shalom lachem_, proves to be a blood cousin of the Arabic _Salaam alaikum_, indicating the common ancestry of these diverse languages. Among Polynesian peoples the Tahitian calls a house a _fare_, the Maori of New Zealand uses _whare_, while the Hawaiian employs the word _hale_, and the Samoan, _fale_. Whenever we classify and compare human languages, we find similar consistent anatomical evidences of their relationships and evolution. We can even discern counterparts of the vestigial structures like the rudimentary limbs of whales. In the English word _night_ certain letters do not function vocally, though in the German counterpart _Nacht_ their correspondents still play a part. In the word _dough_ as correctly pronounced the final letters are similarly vestigial, although in the phonetic relative _tough_ they are still sounded.