SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, iS 



The growth of science is well illustrated in the recent ap- 

 pearance in the Century of the series of articles on the new astron- 

 omy by Prof. S. P. Langley. These have been republished in book 

 form by Messrs. Ticknor & Co. of Boston. We now have a new 

 chemistry, a new physics, and a new astronomy ; and, owing to the 

 way in which the older brothers or older sisters have been endowed, 

 these new-born sciences find themselves without the pecuniary 

 means for their proper support. To quote from Professor Lang- 

 ley's preface, it is not generally understood that among us not only 

 the support of the government, but with scarcely an exception every 

 new private benefaction, is devoted to the old astronomy, which is 

 relatively munificently endowed already, while that which he has 

 called the new, so fruitful in results of interest and importance, 

 struggles almost unaided. The great national observatories, like 

 Greenwich or Washington, are the perfected development of that 

 kind of astronomy which was only interested in recording the 

 movements of the solar system. From primitive times man 

 knew where the sun would rise on a certain day ; and the record 

 of this knowledge is left us in the prehistoric buildings, if such they 

 may be called, of Britain. At Greenwich the moon has been ob- 

 served, with scarcely an intermission, for a hundred and fifty years, 

 but not for the purpose of seeing what it was made of, but for the 

 purpose of forming the lunar tables, which, by means of the moon's 

 place among the stars, will give the navigator his positions. In the 

 same way at the Washington observatory one may see a wonder- 

 fully exact instrument strongly bolted to massive piers, and so im- 

 movable that the sun can be observed by it but once daily as it 

 crosses the meridian. This instrument is the complete attainment 

 of that long line of progress in one direction of which the prehis- 

 toric stones at Stonehenge mark the initial step, — the attainment, 

 that is, purely of precision of measurement. The new branch of 

 astronomy, which has had its entire growth within a few years, 

 studies sun, moon, and stars for what they are in themselves and in 

 relation to ourselves. Its study of the sun, beginning with its ex- 

 ternal features, led to the further inquiry as to what it was made of, 

 and then to finding the unexpected relations which it bore to the 

 earth and our own daily lives on it. This new branch of inquiry is 

 what Professor Langley calls the ' new astronomy ; ' and it is for this 

 new astronomy — this study of the celestial bodies to find out their 

 nature and their relation to us, rather than for the purpose of 

 simply recording their relative motions — that Professor Langley 

 has made so beautiful and so eloquent an appeal for the proper 

 endowment of this new field of research. No one can read this 

 book of Langley's without feeeling that astronomy has acquired an 

 entirely new interest for him. It now results in something more 

 than the dry-looking pages upon pages of tables. 



That the origin of color-blindness lies in the brain, and not 

 in the eye, has been suggested by Professor Ramsay. While en- 

 gaged in teaching in Brooklyn some years ago, the principal of a 

 school insisted in treating every case of the sort as dependent on 

 the will of the pupil. His remedy was the rod. This certainly 

 seemed a tyrannical and unwarranted treatment, but the result was 

 favorable to his theory. Is it possible that a thorough examination 

 will ultimately demonstrate that the fault lies very largely in the 

 shiftless methods of observation which have grown up under the 

 old classical system of education, and which have to a large extent 



become hereditary ? Professor Ramsay's suggestion and his argu- 

 ment deserve careful attention, and, if found correct, we have an- 

 other and overwhelming reason for the newer education. At first 

 sight, it is not perfectly clear, on the above theory, why it is that color- 

 blindness should be more common among men than among women ; 

 yet it is possible that this will be found to bear out the suggestion made 

 above, for, with the discontinuance of the wearing of colors by the 

 men, their interest in colors to a large extent must have ceased ; 

 and if our old methods of education were to be continued much 

 longer, it may be, that, with the less use of color by women in 

 their dresses, an increase of color-blindness might result among 

 them as well. It is doubtful, however, whether the introduction 

 of the rod as a quick corrective will find many advocates. 



VOLAPUK. 



This is the name of an artificial language recently devised for 

 international use. Similar attempts have been made at various 

 times to produce a vehicle of uniform expression for the world's 

 speakers ; but modern literature knows nothing of these efforts. 

 All have been abortive. Will Volapiik be more successful } 



A universal language must have a phonetic representation — a 

 'real character' — that shall be easily and uniformly intelligible to 

 all readers. The new candidate for universality is in the mean 

 time unprovided with any international medium of writing. It can- 

 not, therefore, while this want is unsupplied, be diffused as a spoken 

 language. Take, for example, the title ' Volapiik.' The English 

 reader deciphers this word into the syllables ' Vol-a-puk,' with 

 customary sounds ; but the intended pronunciation is ' Voh-lah- 

 puek.' A French or a German reader would have no difficulty 

 with the syllable ' puk,' but the English system of letters can give 

 our readers no idea of the sound. The employment of Roman let- 

 ters, while they have such diverse phonetic values in different lan- 

 guages, must effectually prevent the oral use of Volapiik in differ- 

 ent countries. As a written language it might still, however, be of 

 service. 



Is Volapiik the best language that science can create for this 

 ideographic purpose? Is it superior to previous essays of the 

 same kind } The most elaborate and complete of all earlier 

 schemes for a universal language is undoubtedly that of Bishop 

 John Wilkins. This system was printed for the Royal Society 

 in 1668. The analysis and the classification of ideas, on which 

 the ' Philosophical Language ' is founded, are beautifully ingenious. 

 A similar principle of arrangement was afterwards adopted by Dr. 

 Roget in his well-known ' Thesaurus of English Words and 

 Phrases,' — a book, by the way, which owes its existence to the 

 labors of Bishop Wilkins, although no acknowledgment of such in- 

 debtedness is to be found within its pages. The bishop's scheme 

 for a universal language is indeed referred to, but only as having 

 been " soon found to be far too abstruse and recondite for practical 

 application ; " while no mention is made of the grand feature of the 

 work, on which the whole scheme is based, — the fundamental 

 grouping of thoughts and expressions. This feature is simply, 

 silently appropriated in the ' Thesaurus.' The latter is a very 

 cleverly executed work ; but the credit of its plan, however im- 

 proved by Dr. Roget, should have been ascribed to the original 

 designer. Bishop Wilkins. 



Before examining the details of Volapiik, let us look at some of 

 the characteristics of the older scheme. The complete categories 

 of ideas are comprised under forty ' genuses or heads,' to each of 

 which a radical sign is appropriated. This sign is susceptible of 

 the addition of subordinate marks, which, on defined principles, 

 signify species, differences, etc. The resulting geometrical figures 

 make up the ' real character.' 



The application of the system is illustrated in the Lord's Prayer 



