In the 19th century linguistics had not yet become the highly technical subject which it was to be in the century following. Debates on linguistic issues could still be followed by non-specialists and discussed in terms accessible to the educated public. This public in turn did not hesitate to make up its own mind about the questions put before it by linguists. Hence it is not surprising to find general periodicals devoting considerably more attention to language, particularly in the latter half of the period, than has probably ever been the case before or since.