374 Mr. Baspace on the Influence of Signs 
the merit of explicitly stating the principle *, and the use, which 
he has continually made of it, has had the effect of giving great 
perspicuity to his formule. 
In Astronomy, this principle has been adopted with much 
success, and signs © and » for the Sun and Moon constantly occur. 
It is rather singular, that a principle on which the earliest and 
most imperfect written language rested, should be found to add 
so essentially to the value of the most accurate and comprehen- 
sive: yet the language of hieroglyphics, is but the next stage im 
the progress of the art, to the mere picture of the event recorded ; 
and the signs it employs, in most cases, closely resemble the things 
they express. In Algebra, although the principle has not been 
pushed to its extreme limits, the grounds of its observance are the 
same; the associations, are by its assistance, more easily and more 
permanently formed, and the memory most effectually assisted +. 
I have entered into more detail respecting these causes, than 
the importance of the subject, may in the opinion of some appear 
* “When compound quantities are represented by more simple expressions, those cha- 
racters ought to be preferred, which will most readily, and with least effort of memory, 
bring to our recollection the original quantity intended to be expressed.” Baily on Life 
Annuities, Pref. p. 39. 
+ The benefit derived from a proper choice of signs, or froma judicious mode of pre- 
senting them, is not entirely confined to mathematical studies; wherever the multiplicity of 
particulars renders it of importance to assist the memory, or to give quickness to the appre- 
hension of the terms employed, such a principle, if it can be adopted, will be found of con- 
siderable value. Amongst the authors who have availed themselves of this principle, in treating 
other subjects, than those, in which it is so eminently useful, the name of M. Cuvier, may be 
mentioned. In the preface to his work, Le Régne Animal, he remarks, “‘ Partout les noms 
des divisions superieures sont en grandes majuscules; ceux des familles, des genres et de 
sous genres, en petit majuscules, correspondentes aux trois caractéres employés dans le texte ; 
ceux des espéces en Italiques; le nom Latin est a la suite du nom Francais, mais entre deux 
parentheses. Ainsi l’ceil distinguera d’avance Vimportance de chaque chose et l’ordre de 
chaque idée, et limprimeux aura secunder l’auteur de tous les artifices que son art peut 
preter Ala mnémonique. Cuvier, Le Réegne Animal, tom.1. Preface, p. 18. 
