Editorial. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
August,  1920. 
Reformation  is  an  act  of  changing  from  worse  to  better  and  not 
from  bad  to  worse.  Such  reformation  of  our  language  as  takes 
place  should  be  by  the  orderly  processes  of  evolution  directed  through 
the  proper  channels  and  not  by  revolution.  Evolution  and  not  revo- 
lution is  the  line  of  true  progress  and  staid  reform. 
We  do  not  assert  that  there  are  not  some  words  in  the  English 
vocabulary  for  which  simplified  spelling  would  be  justified.  We 
are,  however,  of  the  opinion  that  the  innovations  urged  by  the  en- 
thusiastic propagandists  for  simplified  spelling  were  entirely  too 
radical  and  revolutionary  and  would  have  upset  long  established 
rules  and  many  good  authorities.  Further,  it  is  our  belief  that 
many  who  joined  in  this  movement  had  no  conception  of  the  basic 
principles  of  our  orthography  and  some  were  purely  faddists,  while 
others  with  insincerity  sought  a  cloak  for  their  own  imperfect  knowl- 
edge and  offered  as  a  subterfuge  "simplified  spelling"  that  made 
their  already  incorrect  spelling  simply  abominable  and  excused  as 
"phonetic"  much  that  had  passed  from  the  state  of  being  funny  to 
the  absolutely  ridiculous.  Whatever  claims  the  movement  may 
have  possessed  for  recognition  as  a  scientific  proposition  were  thus 
discounted  and  drowned  out  by  the  preponderance  of  the  unscien- 
tific exhibitions  and  it  is  probable  that  its  actual  effect  upon  English 
orthography  will  be  quite  limited. 
By  common  consent  literateurs  have  been  granted  privileges  with 
the  languages  for  the  purpose  of  enhancing  the  art  of  their  profession 
and,  for  the  sake  of  rhyme  or  meter,  the  poet  at  times  exercises  the 
"poetic  license"  to  modify  or  to  curtail  the  spelling  of  a  word.  This, 
however,  is  expected  to  be  done  in  accordance  with  literary  art  and 
in  a  constructive  manner.  At  no  time,  however,  has  it  been  con- 
ceded that  the  newspaper  or  magazine  writer,  the  occasional  contribu- 
tor, the  novice  or  the  irresponsible  student  was  privileged  ad  libitum 
to  change  the  accepted  and  authorized  spelling  of  English  words. 
Such  a  procedure  would  be  destructive  of  the  very  foundation  prin- 
ciples of  the  language.  The  ever- widening  breaches  and  the  in- 
creasing number  of  words  whose  spelling  was  being  erratically 
"simplified"  showed  the  danger  to  our  language  from  such  promiscu- 
ous and  unauthorized  changes. 
Editors,  as  a  rule,  are  not  easy  prey  to  false  ideas  or  fads,  and 
it  is  to  their  credit  that  the  great  majority  of  American  editors  have 
adhered  firmly  to  the  authorized  and  accepted  spelling  of  the  dic- 
tionaries.   Some  have  adopted  the  minor  and  more  conservative 
