1922] on Auxiliary International Languages 535 



These forty fundamental genera were divided into numerous 

 species, and to all these genera and species letters of the alphabet 

 were assigned in a regular ordinal manner. Thus the genus 

 "element," one of the types of "substance," was denoted by De. 

 Now Bishop Wilkin s followed the peripatetic philosophy, and divided 

 the genus element into the species earth, air, fire and water. 



Substance 



I I 1 



Element = De 



i i i 



Fire = Deb 



I I I 



Flame = Deba 

 De = Element Due = elementary 



Do = Stone Duo = stony 



Fire thus became Deb, and flame, a variety of fire, became Deba. 

 Grammatical function was indicated by appropriate letters, e.g. 

 De = element, Due = elementary, Do = stone, Duo = stony. 



We can perceive here two of the fundamental objections to all 

 such philosophical systems. In the first place all such classifications 

 are fleeting and transient. At best they can but reflect the know- 

 ledge and science of their day. But as this is constantly changing 

 there is no finality. We no longer accept the earth, air, fire and 

 water of the Aristotelian-scholastic philosophy as a satisfying classi- 

 fication uf elementary substances. Even the chemical elements of 

 twenty-five years ago are dissolving before our eyes into the electrons, 

 protons, and neutrons of a newer philosophy. But even were there 

 a finality of knowledge such classificatory symbolisms would be very 

 difficult to memorise. We should have to remember not only the 

 symbols and their meanings, but also the whole ordinal system of 

 assignment. In practice we should have to learn the system empiri- 

 cally, as we do natural living languages. Thus all the hoped-for 

 advantages would disappear. " To a child Deba might soon come to 

 mean flame, but if we came across this mysterious word in later life 

 we should have painfully to cle-code it. 



After this discussion it will be unnecessary to dwell further on 

 the numerous attempts which have been made to construct such 

 a priori philosophical languages. A glimpse at the work of Sotos 

 Ochando must suffice. Here it is : — 



A = inorganic material things 



Ab = material objects 



Aba = simple bodies or elements 

 Ababa, Ababe, Ababi, etc. 



Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen 



