48 2 ransactions. — Miscellaneous, 



corn fodder of South Africa is spelt mealies, although not ground 

 into meal, and mills would be the correct term. Various plants 

 pass under the name of tea tree, including the ti (CorJyline 

 australis) of New Zealand. The name of the old town of 

 Aymouth is changed to Eyemouth, and Tung we find as 

 Tongue. The euphonious name of the Pass of Branda is 

 changed into Brander, giving one a suspicion of cooking. The 

 names of the Irish towns, Tallogh and Mallogh, are changed iuto 

 Tallow and Mallow from the dropping of the gutteral ; but why 

 not Tallo and Medio. The w is of no use, but vulgarises the 

 names by suggesting common articles. In Stanley's work, 

 " How I found Livingstone," I find the word Seedy for Sidi, the 

 name of a very useful tribe of negroes, many of the race being 

 employed as firemen in the P. and 0. steamers. There is no 

 reason to suppose that they are of drunken habits, but the 

 English spelling conveys that idea. 



It was curious at the time of the war in Afghanistan to see 

 the puzzle of the London newspapers, as to the spelling the 

 name of the ruler of that State. . His right name being Shir Ali, 

 had been Frenchified into Shere Ali ; and when a fort had to be 

 named after him, instead of reverting to the correct name of 

 Shir, they made the name Sherpur, " the town or fort of Shir 

 Ali." A man must be very vowel deaf indeed who cannot see 

 that this must alter the whole sound of the word. 



Various attempts are now being made to reform the ortho- 

 graphy of the English language by the Americans, and by the 

 Spelling Reform Association and others in England. 



In neither case are the results scientific or satisfactory. 



The Americans seem to think that the main point to be 

 attained lies in shortening the words, by omitting unnecessary 

 consonants ; the English by stereotyping existing sounds. 



The English and American ears have become in a manner 

 deaf tj the true value of the vowel sounds, and require pre- 

 liminary instruction before undertaking the reform. 



Thus, by the American plan, by leaving out one / in such 

 words as spelling, shilling, willing, etc., we should soon, with the 

 defective ear, get to the following changes in pronunciation, 

 viz : — speling, spieling; shilling, skailing ; willing, nailing. Another 

 American change is spelling plough as plow, which is non- 

 phonetic and objectionable ; ow is a barbarous way of rendering 

 what can be better done by au ; besides which it is discredited 

 for the purpose, as we have bow = ban and bo ; row = rate and 

 ro ; stow = sto, &c. 



So much for American innovations. The English idea seems 

 to be to stereotype all the defective sounds at present existing, 

 and apparently in the interests of the South of England and the 

 Cockney dialect, ignoring the North. Thus we should soon lose 

 the broad a and the sound of the letter r. A notable instance ol 



