16 INTEKNATIONAL LANGUAGE AND SCIENCE 



construct an artificial language which could be used as an 

 international auxiliary language. As for Leibnitz, who was 

 attracted throughout his whole life by this problem, his 

 language projects have been recently investigated by L. 

 Couturat by means of documents, many of which have never 

 before been published (La Logique de Leibnitz and Opuscules 

 et Fragments Inedits de Leibnitz). There may further be 

 mentioned the Ars signorum Vulgo Charakter Universalis et 

 Lingua Philosophica (London, 1661) of George Dalgarno,and 

 the recently discovered memoir of an unknown author 

 entitled Carpophorophili Novum inveniendte Scripture (Ecu- 

 menica Consilium (Leipzig, 1734). The last-mentioned 

 system in particular strikes one as highly modern in 

 principle. 



It was only, however, at the end of the last century that 

 the era of practical things began with the Volapiik of 

 Schleyer. The success of this language was very consider- 

 able. It possessed about thirty journals, published in the 

 most different countries, even in Japan, and its literature has 

 been estimated at from 800 to 400 works. The official lists 

 published in 1889 contained the names of 255 local groups 

 belonging to the " Universal Language Society," some of 

 which possessed a very considerable membership. The 

 teaching of the language was highly organised, there being 

 900 teachers, 200 head teachers, and 50 "professors." 

 This great linguistic experiment was very instructive, and 

 its significance cannot be underrated. Important con- 

 clusions concerning the theory and practice of artificial 

 language can be drawn from it, and especially from ft 

 consideration of the circumstances which finally led to the 

 downfall of Volapiik. It turned out that this was due to 

 the errors which Volapiik itself contained, showing us that 

 in these matters, as in others, practical experience is the best 

 teacher. The fate of Volapiik was sealed when its sup- 

 porters, in the year 1889, made the experiment of organising 



