1895. NOTES AND COMMENTS. 157 



waterless islands in precarious communication with the mainland. 

 An instance is the boring on the Island of Arko, one of the first that 

 was made. There are now twelve such wells in Sweden, and there 

 will soon be some in Finland. The fact that purity is a conspicuous 

 character of the water thus derived, renders it of much value to the 

 manufacturers of aerated waters ; and it is this that explains the 

 sinking of so many bore-holes at Trollhattan, otherwise so profusely 

 supplied with water. 



The Scientific Use of Shorthand. 



The value of speed in writing is so obvious that it is strange that 

 shorthand has been so little used by naturalists. Medical men seem 

 more alive to its advantages, for there exists a " Society of Medical 

 Phonographers." At its recent annual meeting its president, Dr. 

 W. R. Gowers, F.R.S., who is an enthusiastic phonographer, 

 delivered an address which so clearly states the merits of this 

 system that we are glad to quote part of it. 



Dr. Gowers stated that the object of the Society was " to promote 

 the work of their profession, alike in medical science and its applica- 

 tion in practice, by freeing it from one grave hindrance which the 

 present has inherited from the past. Writing to-day is what it was 

 when Caxton made it mechanical, with no attempt at improvement 

 until the present generation. But now a method of writing . is 

 available in which simplicity of symbol corresponds to simplicity of 

 sound, and which needs, with a greater average of legibility, only one- 

 third of the time and less than one-third of the labour of ordinary 

 writing. 



** Science rests on observation, which without immediate record is 

 of little value ; not only is memory inadequate, but record at once 

 reveals unsuspected imperfections in observation. Compared with 

 longhand, shorthand permits, in a given time, twice the amount of 

 record, while leaving twice the time for observation. The latter 

 must be more minute and more precise to permit the fuller record, 

 and the first effect of the use of shorthand is on the quality of work. 

 The constant use reacts on the worker, and it is again found true 

 that ' writing maketh an exact man.' In the daily work of the 

 practitioner, which is peculiar in being a form of personal science — 

 knowledge constantly increased by observation — record is most 

 important. It changes vague impression into definite knowledge, 

 and increases that abiUty which is so important to those who suffer. 

 For most practitioners, record is practically impossible with long- 

 hand ; it is possible for all with shorthand. The service of this, 

 however small its influence may be thought, multiphed by numbers 

 becomes incontestably important. The chief means adopted by the 

 Society is the issue of medical literature in lithographed phonetic 

 shorthand — a monthly periodical, and other publications. But the 

 facihty of writing and secure legibility which phonography affords, 



