18 PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
gud fonétik zlfabet. Feerst, it kud fernic a steendard ay proncensiéy- 
coen in dikeceneriz av ool sorts —huwz riydoerz wud des biy seyvd 
de tesk av leerniy a diferent sistem for iyte dikcceneri, xz et préz- 
ent. Sékand, it kud end cud form a régyular brente av instroek- 
coon in skuwlz, znd dees eesist in sikytceriy yiwniform proneen- 
ep te 
siéyceen. Ocerd, scem scete divdys iz olmowst a nisésiti, if wiy wud 
briy érdeer intu a biznes naw Oltugédcer keyatik ; treensliteer¢ycceen av 
neymz fram de Riwean, Brabik znd ceder leygwedjez nat yawziy 
de Rowman elfabet. Zz wiy filo now méJad kansistentli set préz- 
ent, der wud peerheps biy now greyt difikelti in estxbliciy ween; 
espécali if bai it de sayt av a neym kud giv en sepraksimet aidia 
haw it iz prondwnst bai dowz mowst feemiliar wid it. 
Mr. Mussry said that the principal difficulty in all phonetic 
alphabets was not in the alphabets themselves, but in the existing 
variety of pronunciation and the disagreements as to the true 
pronunciation of words. Pitman’s phonetic system—little short 
of an inspiration—was to his mind the best ever devised for 
practical use, though Bell’s system of visible speech enabled a 
person familiar with it to correctly pronounce words and sentences 
in any language whatever. 
Mr. Mauuery said that he had been connected with the prepa-. 
ration of a phonetic alphabet by the Bureau of Ethnology, with 
the object of collecting and recording the vocabularies of the 
languages of the North American Indians. In addition to the 
requisite that there should be a distinct character for every sound, 
it was made a fundamental rule that the characters should be 
limited to those in an ordinary font of English type, embracing 
however not only the Roman alphabet but such characters and dia- 
critical marks as the printers’ cases of average newspapers could 
furnish. This was accomplished so as to provide for many more 
sounds than are included in Mr. Farquhar’s scheme, yet without 
resort to the Greek letters used by him in several instances. It 
was done by the simple device of reversing the large number of 
letters in the Roman alphabet which present a markedly different 
appearance when so reversed, from*their erect position. This is 
entirely convenient to the printer and does not occasion awkward- 
ness in the current script to the recorder or writer for the press, as 
