3i8 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



student when playing five-finger exercises. It is the rule of pianoforte 

 virtuosi never to disturb the still-hand position in fingering so long as it can 

 be maintained, owing to its superior ease, gracefulness, and fluency ; and 

 this is fully justified in the central area of the " Combinational " keyboard. 

 Only letters outside this area need be taken by the weaker third finger, but 

 there is no great loss of speed, and greater certainty of touch, if now and 

 then B, F, and W are taken by a stretch of the second finger. 



In concluding this critical section of our exposition we do not mean to 

 assert that every word in our Language can be written with greater ease 

 on the " Combinational " than on the " Standard," for if the letters of the 

 Alphabet were flung haphazard on to a keyboard it would still write some 

 words better than any other keyboard that could be arranged. A properly 

 disposed keyboard must be judged by the great bulk of its performance, and 

 not by isolated words. The new keyboard is not so much directed towards 

 an increase of speed, though it necessarily does yield greater speed, as to 

 an increase in mental, visual, and digital ease of writing : of which three 

 aspects, however, by far the greatest stress must be laid on mental ease. 



A few examples, out of many thousands of words, may be given of the 

 usage of combinations on the keyboard. 



(i) L and R monosyllables with any two vowels. 



EAL: s.eal, st.eal, st.eal.th, real, d.eal, h.eal.th, m.eal, heal, peal, etc. 

 LEA: lea.se, lea.st, lea.d, lea.p, p.lea.se, clear, p.lea.d, c.lea.n, etc. 

 ALE : ale, s.ale, st.ale, t.ale, sh.ale, scale, h.ale, m.ale, b.ale, dale, etc. 

 EAR: ear, s.ear, t.ear, sh.ear. Earl, n.ear, d.ear, ear.th, year, ear.n, etc. 

 REA : rear, t.rea.t, th.rea.t, rea.m, d.rea.m, crea.m, b.rea.th, b.rea.ch, etc. 

 ARE: are, st.are, rare, t.are, sh.are, d.are, care, sp.are, b.are, f.are, etc. 

 OUR: our, s.our, t.our, h.our, p.our, scour, f.our, c.our.t, m.our.n, etc. 

 ROU : rou.se, rou.nd, rou.t, sh.rou.d, rou.gh, th.rou.gh, g.rou.nd, p.rou.d, 



b.rou.ght, sp. rou.t, etc. 

 OAR : oar, s.oar, roar, roa.m, h.oar, h. oar.se, h.oar.d, b.oar.d, b.roa.d, etc. 

 ORE : ore, s.ore, st.ore, t.ore, sh.ore, p.ore, sp.ore, core, score, etc. 



Similar monosyllables can be formed from: rai-, -air, -eir, -ier, roa-, 

 -ure, -ire, -ile, -ole, -ule, -oul, -ail, lai-, oil, -oir, -oal, loa-, etc. 



(2) Some L and R polysyllables : s.eriou.s, s.erial, s. alary, arrear, array, 

 area, early, alar.m, ally, rural, error, erra.nd, arra.nt, st.erile, cereal, lei. s. ure, 

 p.illar, p.arole, carrier, b.arrier, curious, f.urious, sp.urious, n.eural, s.orro.w, 

 n.arro.w, b.urro.w, b.iliary, corollary, t. error, am.eliora.te, s.urrou.nd 

 w.arrior, m.ural, m.oral, m.olar, e.olar, p.olar, — and so on all through the 

 Language. N.B. — Many of these L and R words have also "fixed" com- 

 binations in them. 



(3) " Fixed " combinations, of which there are two or three in each mono- 

 syllable : — Ea.st, st.a.nd, st.ea.m, st.a.mp, st.i.ng, st.ra.ng.e, st.i.nt, st.ra.nd, 

 st.au.nch, st.a.ck, coa.st, etc., sh.ea.th, sh.ea.f, sh.ou.t, sh.o.ck, sh.u.nt, etc., 

 th.ou.gh, th.ou.ght, th.a.tch, th.i.ng, th.i.ck, wh.i.ch, w.ea.th.er, wh.e.th.er, 

 s.ou.nd, f.ou.nd, m.ou.nd, p.ou.nd, b.ou.nd, ch.e.st, ch.ea.p, ch.ea.t, ch.ie.f, 

 ch.oi.ce, ea.ch, t.ea.ch, t.ou.ch, p.ou.ch, sp.e.nd, sp.ee. ch, sp.ea.k, sc.a.nt, 

 scou.t, sc.e.nt, Sco.tch, m.ea.nt, au.nt, t.au.nt, s.ou.ght, — and so on all 

 through the Language. 



(4) Monosyllables with only one combination are very numerous : Th.e, 

 th.ese, th.at, th.ere, th.is, th.ose, th.ine, th.en, th.em, th.us, ha.th, wi.th, 

 pa.th, ba.th, bo.th, my.th, wid.th, dep.th, etc., a.nd, end, sa.nd, se.nd, te.nd, 

 ha.nd, me.nd, mi.nd, fo.nd, fi.nd, fu.nd, etc., st.one, st.ep, st.em, st.ay, 

 st.ab, te.st, ne.st, pe.st, ca.st, ma.st, fa.st, etc., si.ng, so.ng, pa.ng, fa.ng, etc., 

 sh.ame, sh.ot, sh.ut, sh.ine, sh.one, sh.od, ash, ca.sh, wa.sh, da.sh, me.sh — 

 and so on, with all the other combinations, throughout the whole Language. 



