30G 



[April 5, 



Thomas Ewing, Marietta, O. ; Sociedad de Geografia y Estad- 

 istica, Mexico ; University of California, Sacramento, Cal. 



The Committee on Publication reported that it had exam- 

 ined the communication of George Simpson on the "Fossils of 

 the Helderberg Series," and that it recommended its publica- 

 tion in the Transactions of the Society, which was so ordered. 



The Committee chosen January 6, 1888,* to assist the Com- 

 mission appointed by the State of Pennsylvania in the exami- 

 nation of the defects of English orthography, presented the 

 following report, of which, on motion, the Secretaries were di- 

 rected to have a sufficient number printed separately for gen- 

 eral distribution, and the Committee was continued. 



Beport of the Committee Appointed [January 6, 188S) by the American 

 Philosophical Society to Assist the Comm,ission on Amended Orthografy, 

 Created by Virtue of a Resolution of the Legislature of Pennsylvania. 



{Read before the American Philosophical Society, April 5, 1SS9.) 



The literature of the subject of " Spelling Reform " is already extensive, 

 and, lor its purposes, sufBciently exhaustive. The most eminent filologists 

 in England and America have contributed to it, and the publisht testi- 

 mony in favor of reform is from filologists, linguists, scientists, statesmen, 

 educators, editors and literary workers in general. 



In view of this, your Committee recognizes that there are practically no 

 new facts to be brought out to strengthen the argument on either side. 

 What it aims to do, then, is to present, in a logical and conclusive man- 

 ner, the known facts in the case, together with a consensus of opinions 

 drawn from high sources, in so far as they illustrate the points at issue. 



In this way, your Committee designs to review the whole problem, so 

 that the objective point, the recommendation of the State Commission that 

 certain simplified spellings be employed in the public documents, can be 

 intelligently considered. 



1. What is Spelling ?— According to Worcester, it is the art of "form- 

 ing words by arranging their proper letters in due order." But this defi- 

 nition is as loose, and therefore unscientific, on the one hand, as it is pop- 

 ularly true and sufficient on the other. The main issue is bound up in 

 the adjective "proper ;" a secondary issue is in the word "letters." 



To dispose of the latter, it need only be remembered, that "letters" are 

 but the mechanical devices or symbols by which words are represented to 

 the eye. Any one who can analyze a word into its fonetic elements can 



* Proceeding-, Vol. xxv, pp. 1 and 18. 



