546 Professor F. G. Don nan [March 24, 



I must now carry you a step further in the direction in which 

 Idiom Neutral and Panroman have been leading us. Various 

 attempts, such as those of Mr. Henderson and of Dr. Ross, have 

 been made to introduce a sort of simplified Latin. But the man 

 who has defined most clearly the Neo-Latin principle, and who has 

 not only worked the hardest in this field, but also grouped and 

 organised many isolated workers of kindred views and affinities, is 

 Dr. Giuseppe Peano, Professor of Mathematics in the University of 

 Turin. In 1908 he became Director of the International Language 

 Academy. In the " Discussiones " of that body he has published 

 from year to year the work of himself and many collaborators. A 

 very large amount of scholarly work has been done in the discovery 

 of the international vocabulary common to Latin, Italian, French, 

 English and German. The result of this etymological study may 

 be seen in Professor Peano's important "Yocabulario Commune," 

 the second edition of which appeared in 1915. Following the 

 indication given by Leibniz, Peano has built on an exclusively Neo- 

 Latin basis so far as the main vocabulary is concerned, though 

 modern words acquiring international usage may be accepted. Partly 

 as the result of Leibniz's views, and partly on the basis of his own 

 reasoning, he has eliminated from grammar formal gender, declen- 

 sion, number, and even conjugation of the verb. Not only has he 

 done that, but he has set his face against the system of autonomous 

 word-formation. He holds that " either there already exists an 

 international word or the idea can be expressed by a combination of 

 international words." The result is his 



Latino Sine Flexione, 



or flexionless Latin, which might perhaps be also described as the 

 Christmas Eve dream of the English school-boy, or the terrible 

 nightmare of the Classical Sixth Form Master. Here is the Lord's 

 Prayer in this novel tongue : — 



" Patre nostro, qui es in celos, que tuo nomine fi sanctificato. Que 

 tuo regno adveni ; que tua voluntate es facta sicut in celo et in terra. Da 

 hodie ad nos nohtro pane quotidiano. Et remitte ad nos nostros debitos, 

 sicut et nos remitte ad nostros debitores. Et non induce nos in tenta- 

 tione, sed libera nos ab malo. Amen." 



You can see how it compares with the Latin of the Vulgate : — 



" Pater noster, qui es in coelis ; sanctificetur nomen tuum ; adveniat 

 regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in coelo, et in terra. Panem 

 nostrum (supersubstantialem) da nobis hodie. Et dimitte nobis debita 

 nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris ; et ne nos inducas in 

 tentationem. Sed libera nos a malo. Amen." 



Professor Peano adopts as the form of the stem the Latin accusa- 

 tive minus its inflexion, the result being generally the ablative. In 

 this way he secures a harmonious language somewhat similar in 



