44 



KNOWLI.DC.I:. 



FKIlRrARY. 1912. 



it not for liapiJV arcidcnts of notations, inatlu'inatical 

 scieiKc would not exist. Tlie mechanical trick of 

 placing; twt) little horizontal strai^iit lines one iinder- 

 neatli the other su}j(;ested the idea of negative 

 nmnlKTS. and is the origin of the Hinomial Theorem. 



.\ll the ahsiird explanations of teachers and text- 

 lH)oks are due to ignorance of the fact that the sign 

 or mark precedes the idea. Sciences. Keligious 

 Philosophies, both false and true, owe their origin to 

 symbols, yet no subject is so persistently disregariled 

 as the natural history of man as a " symbol-drawing 

 animal." The graphical expression of meaning is 

 now no longer under the control and subject to the 

 correction of the hand of man. but this function has 

 been delegated to a number of mechanical contriv- 

 ances, which are controlled automatically b\- mindless 

 animate and inanimate forces not in harmony with 

 the author of the idea. By the division of labour 

 with the aid of these mechanical contrivances the 

 dailv progressive degeneration of the symbol goes on 

 just in proportion as the machinery used is perfected. 

 Thus the modern printer, with the assistance of the 

 tvpc-founder, covers the page with dots, tags, serifs, 

 ornaments, tinials. and marks of all description and 

 in anv situation, which are not intended to den<jte 

 anvthing at all. The degeneration due to mechanical 

 repetition can be traced back to the copyists of early 

 manuscripts, who. not understanding the meaning of 

 superscript marks, inserted them anyw luie as orna- 

 ments to the script. 



The stultifying effect of the machine upon the 

 human intellect can be seen in that chapter of history 

 which treats of the destruction of the symbol by the 

 printer. Can anyone doubt, that had the expression 

 of meaning remained under the control of the hand 

 of the author, so indispensalile a sign as one for 

 accent or emphasis would, after the invention of 

 many symbols to express it, and the sur\ival of the 

 fittest of them, be in universal use at the present 

 day. The first Italian printers imitated the written 

 characters, i.e., the hand still dictated the shape of 

 the letter : but the passion for mechanical uniformity 

 which characterises common workmen of all ages, 

 and more especially the printer of the present day, 

 soon gave rise to the modification and distortion of 

 the letters. As an example may be adduced the 

 degeneration of the letter e in England. In Caxton"s 

 type this letter C was a straight-backed looped letter 

 with a dot in the middle. It was called ce and 

 associated with the favourite vowel sound of the 

 .\nglo-Saxons, i.e., the / sound in the word machine. 

 Hut Caxton's types were clumsy, and not made with 

 that mechanical accuracy which distinguished the 

 Continental presses. It was therefore found con- 

 venient to discard these tyi)es and ado|)t the Roman 

 characters, which were wholly foreign to the Gothic 

 languages, and in many cases not suitable to express 

 their sounds; thus the open round-backed e was 

 adopted, which had on the Continent ;i definite 

 phonetic association. 



I'Vnm the international misunderstanding resulting 

 from this unfortunate sul)stitution we have suffered 



uj) to the present da\. The further degeneration of 

 the type may be .seen in the present fashionable letter 

 e, w hich reseinhles a " nulla " or c\pher crossed out, 

 and has therefore been deprivefi of all character and 

 power to ex|)ress either sound or sense. 



Signs of the revolt of the masses against the 

 tyranny of the printer may be seen all over London 

 on every hoarding, in e\er\' ads'ertisement, and c\en 

 in the tickets in the shop windows. All ignorant of 

 the natural instinct which jirompts him to rebel, the 

 business man evinces his dissatisfaction with the 

 monotonous, inexpressive, machine-made medium 

 of intellectual communication which he orders from 

 the printer, for which he pa\s so heavy a price, and 

 which he is obliged to use whether it is suitable to 

 his necessities or not. 



The author thinks, the professor writes, the teacher 

 teaches, the pupil copies, and the examiner records, 

 exactly in the terms which the printer chooses to 

 dictate. 



The playwright must not instruct the actor as to 

 w liat he wishes him to sa\", for the printer does not 

 suppl\- phonetic type. 



Orators are requested not to be emphatic, for the 

 printer does not choose to denote emphasis. 



The singer has no guide to the pronunciation of 

 his words, the traveller no help in foreign coimtries, 

 the merchant no means of selling the goods which 

 c)\erstock the native market. 



The foreigner has no key to the cypher in which 

 the printer disguises the English liter.'iture. and what 

 is termed " Elementary Education " is the explana- 

 tion during three years of " Printers" Errors." 



.\n article in Caslon's Calendar for 1887 contains 

 a recognition of one of the printer's heresies. It is 

 as follow s : — 



"The time has come when we are obliged in the 

 face of demonstration to confess ourselves mistaken, 

 affording one more instance of the foll\- of dogmatising 

 on the possibilities of invention." 



Let us take this recantation as an omen, foretelling 

 the extinction of the present dumb, rulc-of-thumb 

 print, and the gradual introduction of a graphic 

 system of expression based upon a geometrical key, 

 which script ma\' be translated into speech. 



This new print will not be machine-made, but a 

 product of the hand, eye, ear and voice, trained in 

 unison, manufactured and su|iplied by the intelligence 

 of the modern printer. 



Wholesale reforms are very dangerous. 



It is easy to destroy what cannot afterwards be 

 restored. 



Printing reform is loudly called for. but it must 

 be founded on accurate know ledge of the associations 

 w hich already exist between sign, sound and sense, 

 and must not be the acceptation of any [irivate 

 cypiur which any number of persons agree to adopt, 

 where the signs chosen are not in accordance with 

 natural law and traditional custom. 



The following S[)ecimen of the Orthotype Notation, 

 devised by the writer, illustrates the subject : — 



