Oct. 1858. Mar. 1859.] In Pvoman Characters, 197 



tion and before the invention of written characters. Thus the 

 word now used for "learning, instruction/' is siksha, the normal 

 meaning of which is " the proper pronunciation of the vocal 

 sounds occurring in the Vedas as explained by Panini" 

 (Wilson) in other words ,c phonetic science". 



The aspirated consonants are represented by the addition 

 of the letter h. I prefer the practice of Sir William Jones 

 which has been adopted by several continental orientalists who 

 as well as some of our own, add an apostrophe with or without 

 the h. I adhere to the Jonesian practice of the comma above 

 as Kh g% &c. 



I do so because these letters are necessarily required to 

 express the sounds of £ and i^and would therefore need a 

 diacritical mark ; because th at once suggests to English 

 readers the sound of these letters in the, think, &c, ph the 

 sound of / in physic, rh the sound of hard r in rhinoceros, 

 rhizome &c. ; because such a general mark as the ( ' ) at once 

 suggests the idea of a simple aspiration or breathing in in all 

 places where it occurs, and influences the pronunciation 

 accordingly. 



Professor Wilson has changed the romanized symbol 

 of from s' to s in accordance with his system of distinguish- 

 ing all letters requiring diacritical marks, by points below 

 the line. I prefer the former or Sir W. Jones method which 

 is generally adopted both by English and German orientalists, 

 because it is already established & because in a general system 

 where provision must be made for the three sibilants of the 

 Arabic alphabet also, resort must otherwise be had to more 

 complicated marks. 



I object to Wilson's mode of writing anusvara by n, 

 and the others by infra linear points. Thus, besides the nor- 

 mal n he has five so designated, the last with/owr dots under 

 It* 



* Vide Axiom 5. 



