KN()\VLi:i)GH 



MAHf II, 1912. 



Cdinplaiiis lliat m> ICii^'lisliiiian pmnoimrcs liis name 

 corrc'ctK'. aiul that ho is unaltlu to converse witli liis 

 l-Inj^lisli roiifriTcs ahout liis theory of Osmotic 

 Growths: if lie speaks luiglish tliev cannot nncler- 

 stand him, and if tliey speak I'ronch the result is 

 the same. 



The specimen of European idiograpliy uhicli 

 illustrates this article is perfectly understandable In' 

 sight to any educated Englishman, and that w ithout 

 any mental translation into his own language, hut 

 if it is transposed from the ordinary jirint into 

 linglish speech sounds it is wholly incomprehcnsilile. 



By the helj) of a straight line in four positions. 

 I — V ,/. four segments of the circle, and the dot. 

 C w» '^ 3 •, which geometrical elements arc found in 

 all letters and symbols and can be easily added to 

 the print, the reader is enabled in half-an-hour, w itli 

 the assistance of a Frenchman, to associate a certain 

 fGCliPg of vocal positions and movements w ith his 

 \isuai impressions, and he has nothing more to learn 

 about brench pronunciation. By the same amount 

 of repetition and practice which he willingly employs 

 in order to be able to sing a simple tune or to plav 

 it upon the pianoforte, he will be able to transjjose 

 this extract into speech sounds, so that any French- 

 man can understand Professor Leduc's meaning, 

 without that mental distraction which is caused bv 

 constant reference to the context to discover what 

 French words have been uttered. 



The automatic assumption, by the vocal organs, of 

 the positions indicated by the letters and signs, is 

 caused by a function of the brain similar to that 

 which guides the fingers and hands to the rigiit 

 keys of the instrument automatically, not b\' tlie 

 conscious will of the performer, but b\- a subcon- 

 scious telegraphic ajsparatus, which communicates 

 from eye to tongue, and is called association of Sign 

 and Sound. 



After this one extract has been in this manner 

 translated into speech sounds, any French book can 



be read out loud without dillicult\' or h(;sitation, 

 provided, of course, that it is proi)erK' printed, or 

 corrected by the hand of the student or teacher. 



C"onversation being merely the rc|)roduction of 

 former impressions upon the brain, will by this 

 system be regulated by the amount of literature 

 which which has been perceived by the eye and ear, 

 and automatically rci)roduced by the hand and 

 tongue. .^11 that is worth saving is to be found in 

 the literature of the classical languages, and there is 

 no advantage to be gained by learning to talk 

 twaddle in more than one language, after the 

 manner of conversation books, primers, and 

 grammars. 



The results of many experiments have proved the 

 truth of the above statements. Even without under- 

 standing what they are reading, foreigners have been 

 able to convev the meaning of a book by speech 

 sounds to the complete satisfaction of a native 

 without the help of phonetic spelling or transcrip- 

 tion; the writer, for example, has read S|)anish in this 

 way. 



The short extract from pages 102 and 10.5 of 

 Professor Leduc's work, " The Mechanism of Life," 

 contains out of two hundred and sixty-four French 

 words, one hundred and eighty-four English, i.e., 

 international words which are easily recognised 

 1)\- sight. 



Subtracting prejjositions. pronouns, conjunctions 

 and often repeated auxiliary words, such as form 

 twenty-five per cent, of all European writing, we 

 arrive by a rough computation at seventy-five per 

 cent, or three-quarters as the proportion of French 

 and English words which are international in 

 scientific literature, and it is this European 

 Idiograph\% as a means of universal communication 

 and a basis of modern civilisation, which should 

 command the attention of scientific men and at all 

 costs be preserved from the destroying agency of the 

 " phonetic iconoclast." 



The geometrical kt'v xsliicii indicates tlie position of the \-ocal organs in producing the \'owel sounds 

 introduces no new element into print and can be learnt in five minutes. 



While preserving the sequence of letters and number of component parts of the idiograjihs. upt)n 

 the invariability of which legiliility depends, tiu- Orthotxpe Notation shows tiie pronunciation of European 

 languages at a glance. 



The juxtaposition of two letters or signs indicate invariable sounds caused by two positions of the 

 vocal organs and their niovtinents from one position to the other. In this way the printer's one 

 hundred and four self-inconsistent ways of writing down thirteen ]'2nglisli nowcI sounds are brought into a 

 logical and practical system. 



The superscript dot 

 The superscript sign 

 The sign "aw"' 

 The sign 

 The sign 

 The sign 

 The sign 

 The sign 



is the dot of tlu' letter ... ... ... 1 



is the ba<'k of tile letter 6 



is the right hand convexity of the letter O 



is the perpendicular diameter of ... 6 



is Seen in the serifs of ... ... ... W 



is the letter U 



is the letter A 



is the German ... ... ... ... U, 



