24 INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE AND SCIENCE 



numbers tell their tale with unmistakable clearness. They 

 prove the existence of the international language apart from 

 every theory. It is only necessary to select judiciously the 

 words common to the living languages, that is to say, by an 

 artificial process, in order to construct the international 

 language. 



Besides the purely linguistic standpoint, the Delegation 

 considered the whole question of an international auxiliary 

 language from another and an essential point of view. It is 

 natural, and sufficiently well known, that in both the Volapiik 

 and Esperanto movements the linguistic issue was mixed up 

 with a large amount of disorder, error, misunderstanding, 

 and illusion. This was due to the fact that these move- 

 ments were largely directed by scientifically untrained 

 persons, and partly also fell into the hands of fanatics and 

 Utopians. Added to this was the desire to soar to the 

 summits of literature instead of confining themselves to 

 practical matters, and the truly childish confidence which 

 led them to spoil the classics of different nations by trans- 

 lating them into a language intended for other purposes. 

 This latter trait was even more markedly pronounced in the 

 Esperanto than in the Volapiik movement. The Delegation, 

 as a commission of serious men of science, has steadily 

 laboured to free the question from all extraneous considera- 

 tions, of which we have mentioned only the best known, and 

 the standpoint which is taken in the periodical Progreso 

 is in all respects a serious and scientific one. In this way 

 it has been possible to attain finally to a stage at which the 

 whole question can be discussed on its merits. The action 

 of the Delegation marks, therefore, without doubt the 

 beginning of a rational period in the history of the 

 movement for a universal language. Henceforth he who 

 comes to mock will have nothing to say, and the sceptic 

 will have to search for serious and competent reasons if he 

 wishes to maintain his case. 



