194 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. X. No. 246 



it, making a verj' higli and confused sea ; but the ship was making 

 16 knots, and, though the spray was flying fore and aft, she had 

 not up to this time taken a drop of solid water on board. 



At 4.40 A.M., latitude 50° 50' north, longitude 27° 8' west, the 

 officer of the watch noticed a heavj'-breaking sea coming from the 

 north-west : he ordered the officer at the engine-telegraphs to re- 

 duce to ' half speed,' but, before this could be done, the top of this 

 sea came on board, but did no damage. The ship rose quickly to 

 it ; but, as this wave passed under the stern, she plunged heavily, 

 and, dipping her bows into the second wave, — not breaking, or, as 

 the officer of the watch expresses it, ' dead water,' — scooped up a 

 mass of water, which, running aft over the break of the forecastle, 

 fell upon No. 2 companion-hatch, breaking it to pieces, also break- 

 ing the short bridge between the fore-end of the promenade deck 

 and the break of the forecastle. The look-out bridge between the 

 lighthouses was twisted, and five iron stanchions and 20 feet of the 

 iron rails on it broken, and four brass stanchions on the port side 

 of the upper main bridge were bent. The middle part of the top- 

 gallant forecastle deck for 40 feet in a fore-and-aft line was sent 

 down two inches by the weight of the water passing over it. Some 

 water got down No. 2 hatchway and frightened a few passengers. 



The second officer is certain that the first sea did no damage, as 

 only the top of it broke over the ship ; but he describes the plunge 

 the ship took, as this wave passed astern, as very heavy, and that 

 she went bows into the solid water of the second wave, which he 

 is quite certain was not breaking, but 'coming smoothly along.' 

 This made the ship " stagger, and the sensation was as if she had 

 struck something hard." After the sea came on board, the speed 

 was reduced to 10 knots, and was not increased till noon. 



The canvas screen on the port side of the upper main bridge was 

 spread, and the spray striking this bent the brass stanchions. The 

 lower bridge escaped, through there being no canvas screen spread. 



Although the wind was three points on the starboard bow, 

 with a heavy sea from the same direction, it seems, from the brass 

 stanchions on the upper main bridge having been bent aft and to 

 starboard, and from certain marks on the forecastle deck, that the 

 second officer's statement, as to the damage being done by the 

 second wave (probably due to the west-south-west sea, which was 

 still running high and fast), is correct; and on more than one occa- 

 sion, serious damage has been done by a sea coming up on the lee 

 bow and breaking on board hours after the wind had been blowing 

 three or four points on the other bow. 



If we take into consideration a long and heavy sea from west- 

 south-west, a north-west gale, and heavy sea from the same 

 quarter, we shall have an ugly, confused sea. If a very powerful 

 ship with very fine lines is driven at the rate of 16 knots through 

 this confused sea, there is not the least occasion to call in the aid of 

 tidal or earthquake waves to account for any damage the ship would 

 receive. 



In the engine-room there was no shock felt, and the sailors and 

 firemen say they did not notice any thing unusual, save only some 

 passengers making a noise. 



The masthead light was extinguished through the chimney being 

 unshipped and falling across the wick. 



THE SHORTHAND CONGRESS. 

 The first international shorthand congress ever held was inaugu- 

 rated in London, Monday evening, Sept. 26, under the presidency 

 of the Earl of Rosebery. We condense the report of the proceed- 

 ings from an article in The Athenaum of Oct. i. Though held in 

 commemoration of events in the history of English shorthand, its 

 interest is by no means confined to the English-speaking race, and 

 several leading representatives of continental systems were pres- 

 ent; while others, though not able to attend in person, sent papers 

 on the theory and practice of the art as used in their respective 

 countries. It is, indeed, acknowledged by common consent that 

 England was the mother-country of modern shorthand, and that 

 the tercentenary of English shorthand is the tercentenary of the 

 shorthand of the world. Very little value can be assigned to the 

 invention of Dr. Timothy Bright, which is nominally the event com- 

 memorated. It seems to be far inferior in every respect to the 

 Tironian notes of the time of Cicero ; but it is the earliest English 



work on shorthand known to bibliographers, and it was followed, at 

 an interval of only some fifteen years, by a series of publications 

 (beginning with that of John Willis, 1602) based in the main on the 

 same principles as are now generally employed. 



France began with adaptations of the well-known English system 

 of Taylor, but the more recent French systems follow generally a 

 plan peculiarly their own. Their alphabet of consonants contains 

 letters of two different lengths, but of one thickness, and their 

 vowels consist of loops and hooks which are written in with the 

 consonants, the finer distinctions of vowel-sound being indicated,, 

 when necessary, by detached accents. These accents are seldom 

 or never used in fast writing; the French reporting style may there- 

 fore be described as employing a few very simple vowel-signs- 

 written in with the consonants. 



The German systems are still more characteristic, being what are 

 called ' script ' systems ; that is, systems which employ, instead of 

 straight lines and circular arcs, characters requiring the same 

 movements of the hand as the letters of common writing. The 

 vowels are very fully expressed, sometimes by characters of their 

 own (which are usually either upstrokes or horizontal strokes), but 

 more frequently by modifications of the form or thickness of the 

 consonants. It will be easily understood that these forms, not be- 

 ing geometrical, lend themselves with special readiness to varieties 

 of modification, just as the Gothic style of architecture is more 

 adaptable than the Grecian. The indication thus given is often a 

 mere general indication of the presence of a vowel without showing 

 what the vowel is. 



The founder of the German method was Gabelsberger, whose 

 first publication is dated 1834, and his system is still the most 

 widely used of all. Its most prominent representatives at the con- 

 gress were Dr. Zeibig, professor of the Royal Stenographic Insti- 

 tute, Dresden, well known for his historical publications ; and the 

 Rev. J. Alteneder, domvicar of Passau, in Bavaria. It is used for 

 reporting the debates in the Houses of Parliament of Austro-Hun- 

 gary. Saxony, and Scandinavia. Next in order, both of time and 

 of present popularity, comes the system of Stolze, first pub- 

 lished in 1 841, but since largely modified. It is used in reporting 

 the proceedings of the Imperial Parliament at Berlin, and was ably 

 represented at the congress by some of its leading professors and 

 practitioners, notably by Dr. Max Backler, parliamentary shorthand- 

 writer, Berlin. Two other systems, those of Arends and Roller, have 

 also an established position, but were not, so far as we are aware, 

 represented at the congress. The total number of shorthand socie- 

 ties using these four systems is given as about 1,000, and the num- 

 ber of adherents about 25,000. 



The French systems were represented by four parliamentary 

 reporters from Paris ; and the chief stenographer, M. Guenin,. 

 though not able to attend in person, sent a paper which was read 

 in the congress. 



In America the systems mostly used are modifications of Isaac 

 Pitman's, one of them bearing the name of his brother Benn Pit- 

 man, while two others, which aim at a higher degree of abbrevia- 

 tion, are known as Graham's and Munson's. Graham's was 

 represented by Prof. W. D. Bridge of Chautauqua University, who 

 is an expert writer, and well informed upon the state of shorthand 

 in America. He was, so far as we know, the only member who 

 crossed the Atlantic to attend the congress. 



The first day of papers and discussions brought out several 

 points of interest. A well-devised list of questions on parliamentary 

 reporting had been sent to foreign countries as well as to English 

 colonies ; and the replies, which were both numerous and full, had 

 been ably condensed into a. precis by Mr. Gurney-Salter, the short- 

 hand-writer to the Houses of Parliament. A lively debate en- 

 sued, in which some of the leading men from the gallery (notably 

 Mr. Storr of the Times) took part, as well as some of the foreign 

 representatives. Dr. Max Backler especially distinguishing himself 

 by his ready command of the English language. The inadequacy 

 of the accommodation provided for reporters in the Houses of 

 Parliament, especially as regards difficulty of hearing, was made 

 painfully prominent, while in other countries they are for the most 

 part placed in the body of the house, in the best situations possible. 

 It is the practice in the French Senate to employ always two 

 official shorthand-writers at the same time to check one another. 



