NOVEMBER 4, 1897. ] 
obstruction has crumbled away. The ten- 
deney to these deviations and doublings 
seems to beinherent. The French is about 
the only tongue which has an officially ap- 
pointed guardian to keep it within orthodox 
lines; and it must be added that none 
needed it so much, or has so much to be 
done for it remaining. What is needed, 
and would seem to be practicable, is the 
application of modern methods equivalent 
to the work of the civil engineer among the 
time-worn paths—a leveling and alignment, 
the taking out of kinks and détours, and 
introducing great precision and definiteness. 
It is no greater task for our time than the 
change to the Julian calendar was for that, 
and is comparable with the proposition to 
divide the year into 13 months of days. 
I fear it is not the proper or congenial role for 
philologists and lexicographers whose task 
will come in at a later stage, in the perfect- 
ing and grafting upon the adopted alternate 
language. Thus far their special interest 
seems to lie in the diversity rather than the 
uniformity of tongues; and their very 
modest efforts to introduce a more regular 
spelling and pronunciation, though not en- 
tirely barren, are, by no fault of. theirs, 
hopelessly slow of adoption. The chances 
of these reforms would be better if English 
could be adopted as a world-language ; and 
if another were chosen they might be need- 
less. 
This Association is called upon from time 
to time to join in international conferences, 
to recommend or appoint delegates to such 
gatherings, and to pass upon their reports 
touching matters of nomenclature, classifi- 
cation and standards. The cause of learn- 
. ing has very much at stake in an extension 
of this same function to language. Other 
interests are also concerned, and whether 
these other interests—foreign commerce, 
diplomacy, telegraph or transportation— 
shall take the initiative, or leave it to others, 
there should be a joint action and represen- 
SCIENCE. 
685 
tation. This subject is already attracting 
the attention of practical business men, who 
may be expected to move in the matter 
faster than the teachers and lexicographers. 
While writing, my attention has been called 
to an address by a business man to a Bos- 
ton business club, advocating the use of 
English as a world language. A table 
quoted from Mulhall, showing the growth 
of the great Huropean languages in the years 
1801 to 1890, shows that the English has 
increased 217 per cent., while no other ex- 
cept the German has reached so much as 
100. Ihave added to it a column of esti- 
mated numbers, using the same tongues at 
the present time, in which the lead seems 
to be with the English, though this is liable 
to be challenged by the partisans of Russia, 
as the official language, though not the na- 
tive one, of a nearly equal number.* 
Can we assume that this lead can be 
maintained for another century, when the 
Russian Hmpire shall touch the two oceans 
and the Mediterranean, or when the Ger- 
man Empire shall extend from the North 
Sea to the Bosphorus? If not, there is 
nothing to be lost, and much to be gained, 
for us, by an earlier rather than a later set- 
tlement of this queation. 
There have also appeared in the daily 
press expressions from some learned society 
of Germany, which I am expecting to see 
authenticated any day, a willingness on 
*INTERLINGUAL CONFERENCE. 
Mulhall’s Table of increase, Millions spoken by 
1801-1890. in 1895. 
(% in 1801.) (% in 1890.) (Estimated. ) 
12.7 27.7 English. . . . 120. 
19.4 12.7 French... .. 46. 
18.7 18.7 Germania menos 
9.3 8.3 Italian’... . . 32. 
16.2 10.7 Spanish... . 22. 
4.7 3.2 Portuguese . . 15. 
19. 18.7 Russian (?). . 129. 
100 100 
Scandinavian. 9. 
Holland... 5. 
