CHAPTER II 



THE " DELEGATION POUR L' ADOPTION D'UNE LANGUE AUXILIAIEE 

 INTERNATIONALE " 



ONE of the most important problems of present day 

 civilisation is the introduction of an international auxiliary 

 language. 



We boast of our international intercourse. The civilised 

 world has extended to new nations and has embraced whole 

 regions of the earth, and yet, in spite of the magnificent 

 means of material communication, nothing of a similar 

 nature has been done for the purpose of uniting minds 

 together in an equally practical manner. Recently, how- 

 ever, an event has occurred at Paris which brings us a step 

 further in this direction. The Delegation pour V Adoption 

 d'une Langue Auxiliaire Internationale, which was formed in 

 1900 as a result of the Paris Exhibition, has, after an 

 activity of seven years, arrived at a definite decision. 



The very fact that modern international relations have 

 brought about such a delegation and entrusted it with work 

 should be sufficient to emphasise the importance of the 

 problem. It is not true that the need for an international 

 auxiliary language disappears with the knowledge of several 

 national languages, as has been asserted by many who, on 

 account of their personal knowledge, have not experienced 

 it. This is especially true of some philologists who overlook 

 the fact that languages form the object of their special 

 studies, and draw conclusions from themselves concerning 

 the needs of others. Expertness in the use of languages 

 does not come so readily to the scientific investigator and the 

 technologist, whose work lies in other directions, and so it 



