CHAPTEE V 



THE EELATIONSHIP OF THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE TO 



SCIENCE 



WHILST the preceding chapters have sufficiently demon- 

 strated that the construction of an artificial international 

 language is not only possible, hut already in all probability 

 fixed as regards its fundamental principles, it will be 

 desirable here to give some account of the inner relations 

 between science and the auxiliary language. 



Without doubt one of the most important conditions to 

 be satisfied by an artificial international language is, that it 

 should be capable of being employed in science. Consider- 

 ing the leading part which science plays to-day in the life 

 of nations, the system which this intellectual Great Power 

 will adopt cannot be a matter of indifference ; indeed, its 

 capability of serving the needs of science might well be 

 regarded as the test of an artificial language. It is, for 

 example, conceivable that a particular system, although 

 unsuitable for the purposes of science, might work quite 

 well so far as commercial relations are concerned. 



Before we examine the relationship between science and 

 auxiliary language the question may be asked whether an 

 international language is at all necessary in science, and 

 whether it is likely to be introduced therein. We may con- 

 sider that this question has been settled by the discussions 

 contained in the previous chapters. The general question 

 of the introduction of an artificial auxiliary language having 

 been answered in the affirmative, the further question may 

 be raised as to why, in spite of the existence of different 



