320 



[April 5, 



Thirlwall, Bain, Darwin, Lubbock, Harris, Barnard, constitutes " an 

 authority " in English, quite as respectable as The Academy, in French. 

 There is no lack ol learned support ; all real authority is for the reform. 

 It is the right thing to do, but — . 



4. Is Reform Feasible ? — First, we must remember that The icrilten 

 language is not the language, but merely a device for recording the lan- 

 guage, quite within the scope of the reformers as well as the first framers. 



Secondly, let us see What has been doue in other languages. To quote 

 again from the valuable report of Dr. Gladstone : 



"In tiie Italian and Spanish languages the spelling has already been 

 brought into almost perfect conformitj'^ with the pronunciation. In 

 tiiese, therefore, there is nothing to justify any agitation for further 

 reform. 



"Although little fault can be found with the German spelling as compared 

 with the English and French, the educationists of that country and the 

 governments of the different States have long been desirous of simplify- 

 ing it. In 1854, meetings were held both at Hanover and Leipzig, which 

 resulted in certain modifications of the spelling being rendered obligatory 

 in the Hanoverian higher schools. This was followed in 1860 by Wirtem- 

 berg, which adopted a reformed orthograty for its elementary as well as 

 its .upper schools ; and by Austria in 1861, and by Bavaria in 1886. But 

 the changes adopted by these several States are not the same ; and so im- 

 minent did the danger appear of having a different mode of writing and 

 printing in different parts of Germany, that a conference of delegates from 

 the several governments was held at Dresden in October, 1872. This led 

 to the Prussian Minister of Education, Dr. Falk, proposing that a compe- 

 tent scholar. Prof, von Raumer, should draw up a scheme ; and this met 

 with the approval of all the governments. The scheme thus prepared was 

 privately printed and sent to the respective governments, and then sub- 

 mitted to a ministerial commission, consisting of Von Raumer and eleven 

 other educationists, together with a printer and a publisher. The com- 

 mission met in January, 1876, and approved of the scheme with certain 

 modifications ; and a report of the whole proceedings has been drawn up 

 and printed." The reformed spelling is now required to be taught in all 

 the schools, and the military cadets are required to use it in their ofHcial 

 correspondence. 



"Up to the beginning of the present century, the spelling of the Dutch 

 language was very unsettled. In 1804, the movement for reform assumed 

 a definit shape through the essay of Prof, von Siegenbeek ; and the 

 greatly improved spelling that bears his name was the only official and 

 authorized one till 1873. Then some important changes were proposed 

 by De Vries and Te Winkel, and these are now adopted by the different 

 departments of government. I believe, however, that there are other 

 systems which receive official sanction, and we can only hope that the 

 result will be 'the survival of the fittest.' 



