TKANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 359 



no advocate of a Mongolian system of writing by symbolism 

 — it is foreign to the genius of European peoples ; but in 

 ordinary text certain signs might be used with advantage. 

 Why not revert to the old Saxon sign for "and"? 

 (The familiar & or &, though suitable to French work, is 

 inappropriate in English, being really a monogram of the letters 

 " et "). The perpetually -recurring definite article might 

 advantageously be represented, as in shorthand, by a sign. 

 And in the signs used in scientific work, greater economy and 

 efficiency might easily be introduced : as for example, in 

 astronomical work distinguishing inferior and superior con- 

 junction by inverting the sign, p, a plan adopted by myself 

 in almanac-work for years past, and which required no more 

 than to be set forth in the key at the beginning of the book. 



It is possible to carry the use of signs to excess, and where, 

 as in the case of botanical symbols, they are in complete 

 muddle, two or three being in use for any given subject, 

 and scarcely two writers observing the same system, they 

 are useless. Arbitrary signs must be highly appreciated by 

 German philosophers, for German writers use an enormous 

 number unknown in English work. One German typefounder 

 exhibits nearly two hundred separate mathematical signs, be- 

 sides astronomical, pharmaceutical, military, and many others. 



I have sometimes wondered why Pitman, in his revolu- 

 tionary reconstruction of the alphaloet for typography on a 

 phonetic basis, did not revert to first principles, and give us a 

 single series of signs. Instead of this, he fell into the tra- 

 ditional groove, and reproduced the fundamental defects of the 

 present system — its stage-directions, parsing-signs, and ex- 

 pression-marks, its small letters and italics with their variations 

 of form — a plurality of symbols for a single sound. Perhaps 

 this is one reason why his reform — while its value is almost 

 universally admitted — is so slow in meeting with acceptance. 



3. A Chapter from Maori Mythology. 



By John White. 



Thobias Carlyle puts into the mouth of one of his characters 

 the questions : Who am I ? What is this me ? Whence ? 

 How? Whereto? Thousands of other great minds. Pagan 

 and Christian, have been exercised with these same questions, 

 and, in one way or other, have published the results of their 

 researches, and found eager listeners or reciders. The Maori, 

 though far removed from the civilisations of the rest of the 

 world, held opinions on these important questions too, and, if 

 unable to answer them as satisfactorily as more highly 



