GENERAL MEETING. 19 
it is only necessary to mark the letter intended to be reversed, after 
writing it in the normal manner, and to notify the printer accord- 
ingly. In practice the letters intended to be reversed are marked 
by a cross beneath them, though a still more current method of 
distinction would be by the cedilla in using which the pen or pencil 
is not removed from the letter as formed. This is however more 
convenient to the writer than to the printer. 
The result of this scheme in practice has solved one part of the 
problem of a universal phonetic alphabet. Vocabularies and 
chrestomathies of unwritten languages have been recorded and 
printed, upon which grammars and dictionaries have also been pre- 
pared and printed, and from them the languages can be learned so 
as to be spoken intelligibly without oral instruction. The possibility 
of the use of such an alphabet with only such modification as would 
increase its simplicity, in the reform of the English literation, is not 
to be doubted, in view of its success under more difficult conditions. 
The actual obstacles to phonetic reform of fixed alphabets are, 
though perhaps insuperable, non-essential in the scientific view of 
the question. 
Concerning the gliding sounds mentioned by Mr. Farquhar, Mr. 
DoouittLE remarked that some of these appeared to be essential, 
while others were only accidental. 
285TH MEETING. APRIL 10, 1886. 
The President in the Chair. 
Fifty-nine members and guests present. 
The Chair announced the election to membership of Messrs. 
ALEXANDER GEORGE McAptIr and Ropert THomas HI ut. 
Mr. MALLERY read a communication on 
CUSTOMS OF EVERY-DAY LIFE. 
[Abstract. ] 
The scope of the paper excluded the more commonly noted cere- 
monial institutions, such as appear in regal courts, courts of justice, 
and legislative bodies, and embraced the ordinary modes of behavior 
among civilized people. These all have history and significance, 
