1 68 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



By way of illustration, compare the Paternoster in Esperanto and 



Latin. 



Patro nia kiu estas en la cielo, Pater noster qui es in coelis, 



sankta estu via nomo; sanctificetur nomen tuum; 



venu regeco via; adveniat regnum tuum; 



estu volo via, kiel en la cielo, nat voluntas tua, sicut in coelo, 



tiel ankau sur la tero. et in terra. 



Panon nian ciutagan donu al ni Panum nostrum quotidianum da nobis 



hodiau; hodie; 



kaj pardonu al ni suldojn niajn, et dimitte nobis debita nostra, 



kiel ni ankau pardonas al niaj sul- sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus 



dantoi; nostris; 



kaj ne konduku nin en tenton, sed et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed 



liberigu nin libera nos 



de la malbono. Car via estas la a malo. 



regado, 

 la forto kaj la gloro eterne. 



Note. — Vowels have continental 

 sounds. Consonants as in English, 

 c = ch in church, otherwise c = ts ; 

 s = sh ; final j as y. Each syllable is 

 pronounced. Accent on the penult. 



It will suffice to conclude with a translated extract from a recent 

 French memoir, entitled, "La Langue Universelle " (Hachette et 

 Cie., Paris, 1904), by Couturat and Leau. This memoir is the result 

 of a comparative study and research into all the published systems of 

 international speech appearing within the past two hundred years. 

 The authors are two members of an official delegation, appointed by 

 the International Association of Academies, which undertook, at the 

 instance of the French Academy of Sciences, to consider the adoption 

 of an international auxiliary language. Concluding their critique of 

 Esperanto, the writers say: 



In spite of its imperfections, easy to correct, the system of formation of 

 words in Esperanto is one possessed of remarkable regularity and fecundity. 

 It is this, especially, which contributes to give it the striking character of a 

 " natural " language, of a living tongue, which good judges recognize in it. It is 

 truly an autonomous language, which possesses intrinsic and unlimited resources, 

 which has an original physiognomy and a genius all its own. ... It is there- 

 fore not an " artificial " language, dried and dead, a simple replica of our 

 idioms; it is a language capable of living, of developing, and of surpassing in 

 richness, suppleness and variety the natural tongues. Finally, it is a language 

 susceptible of elegance and style, if one admits that true elegance subsists in 

 simplicity and clearness, and that style is but the order which one takes in the 

 expression of thought. 



