April 15, 1922] 



NATURE 



495 



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problem. We may, indeed, say that, since the war, 

 the whole question has entered on a new phase. 

 Learned and scientific bodies of international influence 

 and repute are beginning to study the matter seriously. 

 The present organised movement in this direction may 

 be considered as dating from the adoption, by the 

 International Research Council at their meeting at 

 Brussels in July 1919, of the following resolutions : 



(fl) That the International Research Council ap- 

 point a Committee to investigate and report to it the 

 present status and possible outlook of the general 

 problem of an international auxiliary language. 



(6) That the Committee be authorised to co-operate 

 in its studies with other organisations engaged in the 

 same work, provided that nothing in these resolutions 

 shall be interpreted as giving the Committee any 

 authority to commit the Council to adhesion to or 

 approval of any particular project. 



This Committee is now at work. Its chairman is 

 Dr. F. G. Cottrell, and its headquarters are at the 

 offices of the National Research Council of the United 

 States, 1 701 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D.C. 

 This Central Committee has already done an immense 

 amount of work in securing the organisation of 

 committees and working groups in the national- 

 academic organisations and educational institutions, 

 and in co-ordinating this work and serving as a clearing- 

 house for the exchange and distribution of information 

 and plans. The first national response to the appoint- 

 ment of the International Committee was by the 

 British Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 which, at its Bournemouth Meeting in September 

 igig, appointed a Committee " to study the 

 practicability of an International Language." Thi^ 

 British Committee has been very active, and at the 

 Edinburgh meeting of the British Association in 

 September last, presented its report. Its conclusions 

 may be summarised very briefly as follows : 



(i ) Latin is too difficult to serve as an international 

 auxiliary language. 



(2) The adoption of any modern national language 

 would confer undue advantages and excite jealousy. 



(3) Therefore an invented language is best. Esper- 

 anto and Ido are suitable ; but the Committee is not 

 prepared to decide between them. 



The Committee is continuing to study the problem. 

 The American Association for the Advancement of 

 Science appointed a Committee in April 1921, and 

 this Committee has presented a Report, which was 

 accepted by the Council of the Association at Toronto 

 on December 29 last. The Committee recommended 

 that the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science : 



(a) Recognises the need and timeliness of funda- 

 mental research on the scientific principles which 

 must underlie the formation, standardisation, and 

 introduction of an international auxiliary language, 

 and recommends to its members and affiliated 

 Societies that they give serious consideration to the 

 general aspects of this problem as well as direct 

 technical study and help in their own special fields 

 wherever possible. 



(6) Looks with approval upon the attempt now 

 being made by the National Research Council and 

 the American Council of Learned Societies to focus 

 upon this subject the efforts of those scholars in this 

 country best fitted for the task, and to transmit 

 the results to the appropriate international bodies. 



(c) Endorses the heretofore relatively neglected 

 problem of an international auxihary language as 

 one deserving of support and encouragement. 



[d) Continues its Committee on International 

 Auxiliary Language, charging it with the furtherance 

 of the objects above enumerated, and reporting 

 progress made to the Association at its next meeting. 



NO. 2737, VOL. 109] 



The American Council on Education, the American 

 Classical League, the American Philological Associa- 

 tion, and the National Research Council of America 

 have also appointed Committees. Furthermore, 

 the American Council of Learned Societies has 

 authorised the appointment of delegates to confer 

 with the Committee of the National Research Coun- 

 cil. Thus the national American representatives of 

 science and the humanities are uniting to study the 

 problem. 



Both the French and the ItaUan Associations for 

 the Advancement of Science have also appointed 

 Committees to examine and report on the international 

 language question. 



On September 13 last, the following resolution 

 was presented to the Assembly of the League of 

 Nations by delegates representing twelve States : 



" The League of Nations is well aware of the 

 Language difficulties that prevent a direct inter- 

 course between the peoples, and of the urgent need 

 of finding some practical means to remove this 

 obstacle and help the good understanding of nations ; 



" Follows with interest the experiments of official 

 teaching of the international language Esperanto 

 in the public schools of some members of the League ; 



" Hopes to see that teaching made more general 

 in the whole world, so that the children of all countries 

 may know at least two languages, their mother tongue 

 and an easy means of international communication ; 



" Asks the Secretary General to prepare for the 

 next Assembly a Report on the results reached in 

 this respect." 



With regard to this motion, the special Com- 

 mittee dealing with the inclusion upon the Agenda 

 of Motions submitted to the Assembly reported to 

 that body on September 15 last, as follows : 



" The above-mentioned delegates have proposed 

 the introduction of Esperanto as an auxiliary inter- 

 national language into pubUc schools, in order 

 to facilitate direct intercourse between all nations 

 throughout the world. 



" The Committee are of opinion that this question, 

 in which an ever-increasing number of great states 

 are interested, should be attentively studied before 

 it can be dealt with by the Assembly." 



As a result of this, the secretariat of the League 

 have been instructed to investigate the experiments 

 already made and ascertain the actual results 

 attained. 



On November 20 last, some Swedish gentlemen 

 interested in the question of an international language 

 formed a Committee to promote this subject and to 

 unite the various interests concerned. This Committee 

 has brought the matter before the Swedish Parhament 

 and has also addressed a request to the League of 

 Nations. 



From all this it will be evident that the existence 

 of the problem, and the urgent necessity for its 

 study and investigation, are now fully admitted and 

 recognised by the learned, scientific, and political 

 organisations of the highest national and international 

 status. Before definite action can be taken by 

 national governments, there must be, however, 

 another period of prolonged and exhaustive linguistic 

 research and experiment. This work must be, as 

 we have every reason now to hope and expect, 

 co-ordinated and supported internationally. Those 

 who have laboured manfully in the past, and the many 

 who have given their adherence to this or that special 

 solution, must be prepared to co-operate without bias 

 and without sorrow. The subordination of self and 

 of the most dearly held, the most beloved possessions 

 of the mind in the interest of intellectual advance 

 and the common good of humanity is the spirit of 

 true science. 



