OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 33 



considerable portion of a new alphabet. Let any one who feels this 

 objection make the attempt, for only two hours, to read a well printed 

 phonotypic book, and the objection will disappear. When the art of 

 writing was first introduced among the Anglo-Saxons, the art of deci- 

 phering it was well called reading, that is guessing. Reading English 

 is a sort of guessing at the meaning of hieroglyphical symbols ; and so 

 admirably are we all trained to the art by learning to read, that any 

 one will find it surprisingly easy to guess at the power of all the newly 

 introduced letters of the phonotypic alphabet, without looking into a 

 First Book for them. This statement, which I believe is literally true 

 of the small letters, may, perhaps, admit of an exception in regard to 

 the capitals, when found in a line by themselves. The new letters are 

 carefully selected, as has been already stated, to represent those sounds 

 which least frequently occur ; and in assigning them characters, forms 

 have in most instances been chosen with which we are already famil- 

 iar or which resemble the letters whose power they most nearly rep- 

 resent.* 



" 3. A third objection which is urged against the reform is, that by 

 changing the spelling we are in danger of losing sight of the derivation 

 of a word, and thus of losing one clew to its meaning. Let Dr. Frank- 

 lin answer this objection, as it was made to him originally by a corre- 

 spondent.! ' Now as to the inconveniences you mention ; the first is, 

 " that all our etymologies would be lost, consequently we could not 

 ascertain the meaning of many words." Etymologies are at present 

 very uncertain, but such as they are, the old books would still preserve 

 them, and etymologists would there find them. Words in the course 

 of time change their meanings, as well as their spelling and pronunci- 

 ation ; and we do not look to etymologies for their present meanings. 

 If I shduld call a man a knave and a villain, he would hardly be satis- 

 fied with my telling him that one of the words originally signified only 



* The sound of ee in feet is represented by a letter which is nearly the italic i; 

 a in date and a in psalm are represented by common forms of our written c and 

 a; au in caught by e*, m in cur, by n, u lengthened, the sign proposed by Dr. 

 Franklin ; o in grow, by o, and oo and u in fool and full by vu, u, two m's com- 

 bined ; etc as heard in yew, the name of a tree, by u ; orj in boy, by 6, o with a 

 contracted y above it ; ch in etch by q, which it most nearly resembles ; th in 

 loath, by one form of ^ t ; th in loathe by d, d and t combined; sh in mesh, by 

 a long s,/; zhe in measure, by a written z, 5 ; and no- by a sign suggested by 

 Dr. Franklin, ij, n with the last part of g combined with it. 



t Miss Stevenson. 



5 



