SPELLING 



5492 



SPENCER 



in government publications, but this order 

 was afterward withdrawn. A.MCC. 



Spelling Reform in Canada. The spelling re- 

 form movement in Canada arose responsive to 

 the movement in England led by phonetic 

 scholars contemporary with Ellis and Isaac 

 Pitman. In July, 1858, the Phonetic Pioneer 

 commenced to be published as a monthly, and 

 was devoted mainly to the propaganda of pho- 

 nography of the Benn Pitman variety until 

 the end of 1862. In 1875 the American Philo- 

 logical Association moved in the matter, their 

 efforts resulting the next year in the formation 

 of the Spelling Reform Association; and in 

 1883 it joined the Philological Society of Lon- 

 don, England, in recommending simplifications 

 of spelling under twenty-four rules. 



In Canada the newspapers took up the dis- 

 cussion at this date, the Toronto World lead- 

 ing; and this paper is still leading in the use 

 of good spelling in Ontario. 



The Fonetic Herald was first printed in 

 November, 1884, at Port Hope, Ont.; in 1887 

 it was removed to Toronto. William Houston, 

 one of the most progressive journalists and 

 educators of Ontario, brought the reform to 

 the attention of the University of Toronto, of 

 which he was not only a graduate but a dis- 

 tinguished lecturer; and the Globe, of which he 

 was for some time an editor, has been distin- 

 guished for a conservative orthographic pro- 

 gressiveness among many reactionary contem- 

 poraries. . 



In Nova Scotia in 1885, at the request of 

 Dr. David Allison, superintendent of education, 

 A. H. MacKay, then principal of the Pictou 

 Academy, brought the subject before the Pro- 

 vincial Education Association. When in 1891 

 MacKay became superintendent of education 

 for Nova Scotia, the council of public instruc- 

 tion authorized the provincial examiners of 

 teachers and high school students not to mark 

 against candidates any improved spelling rec- 

 ommended jointly by the Philological Societies, 

 by the great dictionary editors, or by standard 

 dictionaries. This was following generally the 

 course of the Department of Public Instruc- 

 tion in France, which ordered that what would 

 appear to be accidental spelling, if in the direc- 

 tion of approved reform, should not be marked 

 against candidates for promotion in any grade. 



In 1906 the international Simplified Spelling 

 Board, with headquarters at New York, was 

 organized, consisting of representative language 

 scholars from all parts of the English speaking 

 world; and shortly after another international 



organization, known as the Simplified Spelling 

 Society, London, England. 



Webster's Dictionary popularized many im- 

 proved spellings throughout the United States 

 and Canada. But the reformers in their days 

 of youth congealed into the conservatives of 

 old age, so that America is becoming more 

 stereotyped than Great Britain, and at least 

 one province in Canada has shown reactionary 

 progress to the movement throughout the Brit- 

 ish Empire. 



In 1911 an official conference of all the edu- 

 cation departments of the Empire was called to 

 meet in London. The representatives were ap- 

 pointed by their respective governments. One 

 of the subjects considered was the improve- 

 ment and simplification of the spelling of Eng- 

 lish, and at the conclusion of the discussion the 

 Conference unanimously adopted the following 

 resolution : 



That this Conference is of opinion that the sim- 

 plification of spelling is a matter of urgent im- 

 portance in all parts of the Empire, calling for 

 such practical steps in every country as may 

 appear most conducive to the ultimate attain- 

 ment of the end in view the creation, in connec- 

 tion with the subject, of an enlightened public 

 opinion and the direction of it to the mainte- 

 nance, in its purity and simplicity among all 

 English-speaking peoples, of the common English 

 tongue. 



After this authoritative declaration of Im- 

 perial policy, Nova Scotia, Australia and New 

 Zealand more or less promptly introduced a 

 first instalment of simplification in their re- 

 spective education departments. The Normal 

 College of Nova Scotia has since been publish- 

 ing its annual Calendar, using the list of 3,000 

 simplifications, in order to acquaint teachers 

 with the recommendations of our best scholars. 

 The Daily News of Truro, N. S., has success- 

 fully adopted the same advanced degree of re- 

 form as well as the Normal College Gazette. 

 Two of the most widely circulated dailies east 

 of Montreal, The Herald and The Mail, of 

 Halifax, have adopted over 200 words, which 

 are gradually coming into general use in the 

 provincial press. A.H.MC K. 



Consult Michaelis and Jones's Phonetic Dic- 

 tionary of the English Language; Althaus's 

 Sounds of the Mother Tongue. 



SPENCER, spen'ser, HERBERT (1820-1903), 

 an English philosopher, whose great work was 

 his Synthetic Philosophy, was born at Derby. 

 Due to delicate health in childhood, his early 

 education was supervised by his father, whose 

 ideas were far in advance of the age. From 



