THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 151 



latitude, from within the torrid zone, to and beyond the 

 arctic circle and extending from the Atlantic to the Pa- 

 cific and has such vast resources, as to be practically in- 

 dependent of the rest of the world. 



Monday, Jan. 18, 1892. A. A. Post, Esq., of Boston, 

 lectured on the new language called "Volapiik." Mr. 

 Post is the Massachusetts Director in the North American 

 Volapiik Association. The /Salem Gazette says of the 

 lecture : "The least that can be said is, that it presented 

 an array of facts very remarkable and interesting to even 

 those who may not fully accept all of the lecturer's de- 

 ductions from those facts." This language was invented 

 thirteen years ago by a Roman Catholic priest. 



For four years it remained dormant ; after that it began 

 to attract attention. University professors in Vienna first 

 recognized its merits and established a club for the prop- 

 agation of the tongue. It was subsequently welcomed in 

 Russia, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, 

 China and Japan, and within two years from its start, it 

 found friends in every civilized land, and first by the 

 learned men of the various countries. Forty-seven jour- 

 nals have been established and maintained either wholly 

 or in part in Volapiik. In general literature it has a bib- 

 liography of many hundreds of volumes, history, science, 

 poetry, etc. Its clubs number one thousand, and it is 

 used by more than one thousand mercantile houses. 

 Lecture courses in this language have been given abroad. 

 Mr. Post emphasized the fact that the inventor of Volapiik 

 did not propose it to be anything more than an inter- 

 national language. It was not intended to supplant any 

 or all natural languages. Its position is not revolutionary 

 or reformative. It is designed only as a supplementary 

 language to make international communication easier. If 



