The Phonetic Journal.

SATURDAY, 28th APRIL, 1888.

PRICE ONE PENNY.

PHONOGRAPHY AS AN AID TO AUTHORSHIP.

Scattered here and there over the ever-increasing volume of phonographic literature may be found testimony to the value of Phonography as an aid in the work of literary composition of all descriptions. It will, however, never be known how much authors, and the vast army of ready writers for the periodical press, owe to the art as an aid in their everyday work; indeed it would be almost impossible for the indebtedness to be fully acknowledged. But every account of popular contemporary writers who habitually use shorthand in their daily work is an acceptable addition to the always interesting records of literary practice, and may contribute to promote the further use of phonographic methods of recording literary matter. American writers, it may be remarked in passing, have more generally adopted Phonography than their brethren on this side of the Atlantic.

The author's work is essentially creative; let us see then what is his ordinary method of procedure. He has decided, we will say, to give expression to his views on a particular subject-to communicate information to the world of which he has the exclusive possession; to narrate some event, or series of events; or, it may be, to delight with a work of the imagination. Preparatory to sitting down to the work before him, the author thinks deeply on his subject-his work would be of little worth without this-and he obtains all the information available about the matter in hand. When he is at last ready to place his views in a written form, he has the proverbial three courses open to him. The first, and that usually adopted, is to tediously write down in the ordinary longhand sheet after sheet of his composition, a wearisome task, at the best. And it is more than probable that in the effort a good many of those bright ideas with which the author's mind was full when he sat down will have evaporated, however briskly the pen may be wielded in the production of manuscript. There are few writers who do not revise and re-revise their manuscript, and the final result of the process if the writer does not have his article copied-will probably be a source of tribulation to editor, reader and printer. The author's second course is to compose in Phonography, but this many will be unable to do, because the art is unknown to them. Supposing, however, the ability to write shorthand fluently, the author will, find the practice of composing in this way invaluable, because the transcription for the press will afford admirable opportunity for imparting a final polish to his work. The third method is one which may be generally adopted by authors, and with advantages to themselves which they will hardly believe till they have tried it. It is to employ a skilled phonographic amanuensis to take down their compositions and furnish a legible transcript. Nothing uttered by the author will escape the nimble fingers of the writer, and the author may concentrate his attention on giving the utmost beauty of form to his composition which his genius is capable of imparting. Some authors find the task of committing their thoughts to paper exceedingly distracting and irksome; let them try a phonographic

amanuensis.

It is unnecessary to urge on editors and contributors to the 17

daily press the utility of shorthand secretaries. They have long since discovered it for themselves, and much of the contents, especially of provincial daily newspapers, which is in the form of editorial opinion or comment, is taken down from dictation. Journalistic matter is, of course, not literature, and, no doubt, a good deal of the composition appearing in the columns of the daily newspapers is, of necessity, of a conventional form. But the editorial practice emphasises the point which is urged in this article, namely, that the author would do well, to seek the aid which shorthand affords in lightening and expediting the merely mechanical part of his work.

PHONOGRAPHY IN COLLEGE.

[BY A GLASGOW STUDENT.]

The use of Phonography in our Universities is becoming yearly more and more extensive. Yet, considering its inestimable utility, its use by students is not so general as might be expected. It is desirable that the merits of Phonography, whose principles are advocated by many of our leading men in literature and art, should be prominently brought before our students-a class to whom a knowledge of shorthand is of incalculable importance. The student whose good fortune it has been to master the art of Phonography has a decided advantage over his fellow-students to whom as yet shorthand is but a name. There is no one who would think of questioning whether or not a student ought to learn shorthand before graduation. The only question that could possibly arise is as to what system he should apply himself. There are divers systems all asserting their respective claims, and wooing with promises of success the sanguine and the unwary. Often these promises are cruelly belied, and there is realised not success but failure. This is due sometimes to personal indolence or inability, but more often to some defect in the system of shorthand in which the unfortunate one has trusted too confidingly. But such anomalous systems soon come to be distrusted and follow the wake of their ephemeral brethren that have fortunately dropped into oblivion.

If, haply, some student has resolved on the study of shorthand, but is at a loss what system to acquire, I would wish to guide him to a system which is as clear and perfect as any art might be. When first the desire to venture on the acquisition of shorthand was instilled into me, I, too, felt somewhat at a loss to select the best of all the systems that were available. By chance I stumbled across a periodical in which the advantages of Phonography were lucidly set forth, and whence I learned that fully three-fourths of our newspaper reporters are phonographers. I hesitated no longer. It was perfectly clear what system should be my choice. If a system of shorthand was capable of furnishing the press with the majority of its shorthand writers, and among these many of the best, surely I could not err in applying myself to the study of it.

The student who knows nothing of shorthand is subjected to much drudgery by the cumbrous longhand, from which the shorthand writer is exempt. Shorthand is of the highest value in taking full or partial notes of lectures and comments. The labor of making excerpts from books and manuscripts is minimized by the use of shorthand.

In one of my classes there sat on the same bench with me a student who used a much-vaunted system which at that time, two years ago, had just been published. He informed me that it had only taken him a month to learn it, and that on more than one occasion it had been learned in a single week. I was doubtful of the utility of a system which could be learned in such a comparatively short time. One day a fellow student asked him for some information that his notes included. He failed to transcribe them, and appealed to me. It was with strengthened faith in Phonography that I read out my notes. My fellowstudent felt humbled, and gradually ceased to practise a species of writing which could not be read when written. I had no difficulty in persuading him to rest his shattered faith in the efficacy of phonetic shorthand, and he has shown the reality of his faith by having become an expert writer of Phonography. The student who has neglected to master the art of shorthand before coming to college would find it in his first session a delightful relaxation from the harder study of Latin, Greek, and

mathematics; in the arts, and the corresponding "initial" subjects in the law and medical classes. But it is advisable that shorthand should be learned before graduation.

Our educational authorities cannot place too high a value on the importance of shorthand as an educative agent. The innumerable practical uses to which this art is capable of being applied are not the only arguments in its favor. To not a few the golden gates of literature have been opened by shorthand.

But of all the shorthand systems, ancient or modern, that have been invented, Phonography by its intrinsic merit occupies the first rank. It may justly be called the imperial writing. Of recent years divers pretenders have arisen to dispute the supremacy of Phonography. But their puny assaults have been as futile as the hostile blows against the armour-clad Masistius.* The whole system of Phonography is a specimen of the most beautiful art ever invented-beautiful because of its strict adherence to whatsoever is true. Let anyone even unacquainted with Phonography lift one of the phonographic publications and say if he is not conscious of something very like pleasure in the vision of symmetry and beauty that he beholds in the symbols

before him.

But Phonography cannot properly be learned without a knowledge of the science on which it is based. Indeed a conviction that the existing mode of spelling is anomalous must necessarily co-exist with the desire to acquire Phonography.

Fifteen years ago a certain very reverend dean wrote of the phonetic movement as “a wretched attempt to destroy all the historic interest of our language; concerning which we became rather alarmed some years ago, when we used to see on our reading-room tables a journal published by these people, called the Phonetic News, but from its way of spelling looking like frantic nuts. The whole thing has now, I believe, disappeared and gone into the limbo of abortive schemes; the knacker's yard of usedup hobbies."

I quote this as a typical specimen of the flimsy arguments that were hurled a few years ago at the advocates of phonetic spelling. The arguments of to-day against a reformed spelling are no more formidable. The one argument that carries anything like plausibility with it is, that such a reform would be highly detrimental from an etymological point of view. This argument, if it may be so called, is well disposed of by Professor. Max Müller, when he says that "if our spelling followed the pronunciation of words it would in reality be a greater help to the critical student of language than the present uncertain and unscientific mode of writing."

That the cause of phonetic spelling is rapidly progressing is evident to all from its yearly increasing followers, and from the fact that the Phonetic Society comprises such lights in the world of letters as Professor Max Müller, Skeat, Sayce, etc.

The Phonetic Society is asserting its power in all parts of the civilized world. It has thousands of representatives scattered over the globe, all pledged to advance its interests wherever and whenever opportunity occurs.

Shorthand and Phonography have now become almost synonymous terms. Yet the shorthand systems published in recent years have not been few. But the only thing short about them has been their ephemeral existence. Many of them have looked well enough, but when put to the test have proved worthless. Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his introduction to the "Scarlet Letter," tells us of an excellent young man who was wont to write something that looked very like poetry-when not subjected to a close .scrutiny. Thus it is with many of the shorthand systems that are periodically thrust upon the public. It is a pity that so many of the unwary should be allured to disappointment by their glaring advertisements and newspaper "puffs."

Nothing that is worth learning can be acquired without time and labor; and no one who is unwilling to give the necessary time and labor should enter on the study of Phonography. Let him cling to the systems which profess to be learned in a minimum space of time. He will soon be chagrined to find that he can attain but a minimum speed.

About two years ago, at a meeting of the Shorthand Society, Mr Sloan, of the once much-vaunted Sloan-Duployan system of

Herodotus, book ii., 22.

shorthand, expressed his disbelief that any system was capable of being written at a rate of 200 words per minute. Perhaps it will interest Mr Sloan, and others who are equally sceptical, to know that Mr Reed, the renowned phonographer, in 1885, reported a sermon preached by the Rev. Phillips Brooks, of Boston, who spoke at an average rate of 213 words per minute.

I have said thus much of Phonography in general, in answer to several psuedo-arguments against the phonetic system which I have heard from students who are writers of other systems. Few students, I believe, are blind to the merits of shorthand, and the incalculable benefits it confers upon its fortunate possess The regret of many a student is that he had not learned, before coming college-wards, an art which is of paramount importance in the class. Then follows the bitter reflection that it is now too late, overwhelmed as he is by the demands of class-work.

ors.

The inability to write shorthand, however, is not deplored so much in the classical, as in the mental and philosophical depart ments. Indeed, in the classical department it is within the power of a tolerably expert longhand writer to avail himself of most of the requisite professorial comments, the value of which in determining a student's place in the exams is understood by even the most obtuse.

But in the mental and philosophical departments, where success almost solely depends on a knowledge of the professor's lectures, a method of abbreviation is most essential, students whose attainments do not include shorthand, employ an abbre viated writing of their own, somewhat analogous to that of the Roman "shorthand." But, to take only one example, the abbreviation ph is a wretched substitute for the word philosophy, when it is considered that the full word can be written in Phonography in the time required to write the first letter p.

Every student who enters college has need of a shorthand of some kind. Fortunate is he who has acquired the art before going thither. Wise is he who on the conviction of his need sets about to satisfy it. Some students hold the opinion that, once through their curriculum, they would have no further need of Phonography. This is a fallacy to be deprecated, for, though shorthand had no further practical use, it could not fail to be a relaxation from the sterner duties of life. Shorthand is, as Mr Tulliver in the "Mill on the Floss" says with regard to learning for Tom, "very easily carried."

But in reality shorthand is of the utmost use to the lawyer, the minister, the doctor, the littérateur, and the savant-to all, in short, for whom writing is a necessity.

A clerical friend of my own, who learned Phonography some ten or twelve years ago, writes all his sermons and lectures in Phonography, besides his private notes and memoranda. Surely these desiderata might well suffice to incite our fledgling ministers to the mastery of an art which is within the reach of all.

An incident, trifling in itself, but which shows that shorthand has a warm place in the affections of our students, happened my first session. In the course of our daily class-work there occurred a passage in the speech Pro Sulla, where Cicero says that certain senators, celeritate scribendi facillime quæ dicerentur persequi posse (by speed in writing could with the greatest of east follow what was said):

Our genial Professor made a few appropriate comments on the Notarii, and their art, as contrasted with modern shorthand sys tems. Ancient shorthand consisted not in the employment of special symbols, but simplification in the form of words and many abbreviations. The art of shorthand in ancient times was even taught in schools, an example which ought to be followed more extensively in modern times. That the Professor's remarks were appreciated was evident from the responsive stamping on the floor-the collegiate expression of approbation.

In conclusion, let the student who has resolved to acquire the art of Phonography apply himself to the mastery of it with as much diligence as he would to any of his other subjects. He must, in college parlance, not merely "grind up "the various rules but put them into frequent practice. Indeed, nowhere more than in Phonography is practice so essential an adjunct of theory. But diligence and a determination to master the principles of this inestimable art will ultimately enable the student to realise his most sanguine hopes.

Bonhill, Dumbartonsire, Scotland.

WALTER SMITH.

GENERAL LESSONS ON THE TYPE-WRITER.(*)

BY JOHN HARRISON.

LESSON 2.

It must already have occurred to the mind of the pupil that, if the carriage bearing the paper remained in the same position, and each type struck in exactly the same place, the letters would be printed one over the other. He has probably noticed that upon liberating a key which has been struck, the carriage has moved automatically, from right to left, the space of a letter, so that when the next key has been depressed the type has made an impression in the correct place. This calls for some ingenious mechanism, and the pupil should understand the modus operandi of each part before proceeding to actual practice. The simplest way to describe this portion will be by the aid of a diagram, which should at the same time be compared with the machine itself. In making the examination the learner may turn the machine in any way, but must bear in mind that the carriage should be prevented from falling back with violence, or damage will ensue. The plate here given is a sketch of a part of the back of a No. 2 machine.

Referring to Plate 2, at fig. 10, is a ratchet wheel, which is fastened to a powerful clock-spring. It is wound up by turning the small handle at fig. 20, the double ratchet pawlt (figs. 30 and 40) keeping it from slipping back. This spring provides the force for the automatic movement of the carriage from left to right, a thin strap being fastened to it and to the carriage. What is technically known as the "carriage tension"-by which is meant the force drawing the carriage automatically from right to left-is due to the tension of the clock-spring which is fastened to the ratchet wheel (fig. 10, Plate 2), and the degree of tension is entirely under control. It will be seen that as the carriage is drawn into position by the 'Manual of the Type-Writer" contains all these articles in book form. 135 pp. fc. 8vo., illustrated. Paper, Is., cloth, Is. 6d. London: Isaac Pitman & Sons, I Amen corner, Paternoster row. + Pawl.-A catch to check the backward revolution of a wheel.

*The

PLATE 2.

hand from left to right, at the close of a line, the tension that has been lost by the movement of the carriage from the opposite direction is regained. The carriage tension once properly adjusted seldom requires attention, and pupils are strongly advised to leave it alone until they have thoroughly mastered the machine. The carriage, being drawn by the spring, would fly from right to left upon being liberated by the hand if there were not some restraining influences. At the back of the top plate is a rack (fig. 50, Plate 1), the space between the teeth of which is exactly that occupied by a letter in printing.

Beneath the centre of the row of key-levers will be seen a narrow wooden bar, called the "universal bar," which is attached to mechanism in the upper part of the machine by wires. In Plate 1, the wire on the right hand side will be distinctly seen, its hook being between the right ribbon spool and the furthest upright post of the machine

When the space-bar or any of the keys (with the exception of those marked "upper" and "lower-case" in the double-lettered machines) are touched, the lever operated presses this universal bar down, and by so doing sets in action the mechanism we shall now describe.

There are two dogs ++" in the Type-writer (figs. 60 and 70, Plate 2), that at 70 being known as the "rigid dog," and that at 60 as the "loose dog." Both rock backwards and forwards in the iron part which holds them, called the "spacing-rocker," (SSS, Plate 2), but the "loose dog" has also a side movement. They may be described as a catch split in two, and work through an opening in the back of the top plate.

Their action is as follows:-The carriage tension is continually trying to draw the carriage from right to left. The "dogs" being pressed by the spring at fig. 80, Plate 2, the "loose dog" catches in one of the teeth of the rack, the "rigid dog" being free, both "dogs" being level with each other. When a key is struck the key-lever presses down the universal bar. The universal bar is connected with the spacing-rocker (SSS) by two wires, and draws the "dogs" forward. By this means the "rigid dog" comes into position and continues to restrain the carriage ++ Dog.-A kind of catch or clutch.

from moving, but the "loose dog," being liberated, has been thrown sideways by the spring at fig. 90, Plate 2, so that it is ready to catch the next tooth of the rack. The finger is lifted off the key, and as the dogs" fall back into place the rack is passed on one tooth-i.e., the space of one letter; because, as the "rigid dog" leaves the rack the loose one slips in between the teeth, and the carriagetension draws it up even with the "rigid dog," as in the first position. If this seems at all difficult to be understood by the non-mechanical student, let him go carefully over it again and again until it is perfectly clear. If he takes the pains to understand all about his machine, he will be able to keep it in order, and be largely independent should anything go wrong. Repairers are called in for the most trifling mishaps, when even a superficial knowledge of the mechanism of the Type-writer would have enabled the operator to set it right again for himself in a few seconds. Therefore learn what your machine is, as well as what it will do.

EXERCISE II.

1. Describe the "universal bar," its position and function. 2. To what is it attached?

3. What draws the carriage from right to left? 4. What prevents the "carriage-tension" from running down?

5. What is a "dog" (mechanical)? How many are there in a Type-writer, and how are they distinguished? 6. Describe as fully as possible the action of the "dogs." 7. What is meant by the "rack?"

(To be continued.)

MONOPOLY OR FREE-TRADE IN SHORTHAND.

(From the " Educational Times," 1st March, 1888).

"

The fact that Shorthand is made a subject of examination, and a possible element of success in the gaining of Certificates, is giving new vitality to the competition between the authors and teachers of different systems. If an official examination were confined to one system, that system would have a great advantage over all others. It is said that a vigorous effort is being made to obtain an official recognition of one system to the exclusion of all the rest. To prevent the creation of what is termed a monopoly, the authorities are being appealed to, on the other hand, to have nothing to do with any system, and to test freely the powers of candidates to use their own system, whatever it may be. A number of shorthand writers have been induced by private friends to sign memorials in favor of what was tersely put to them as free-trade in shorthand." The 44 'free-trade case for is a very plausible one; but it is not by any means a complete one. It is assumed that if a candidate could take any kind of a note, at a certain speed, and read it easily afterwards, that is all that concerns anybody else. If that were so, and if it were likely to continue to be so, the system that a man wrote would be a matter of indifference to others. But this involves conditions that are not likely to last. The acquisition of Shorthand is extending in all classes of society. It is taught not only at elementary and middle-class schools, but even at Rugby, where the subject is in the charge of a successful lady-teacher from Birmingham. The more general the knowledge of Shorthand becomes, the greater will be the tendency to use it for many purposes for which it is not absolutely necessary to resort to longhand. Employers of labor in large establishments will see how time can be saved and business expedited by having things written in Shorthand for office use. necessary condition of this will be that all the persons in the establishment who have to use Shorthand must be able to read and write the same system. Imagine the disappointment of a principal or manager on finding that half-a-dozen clerks are writers of two or more systems, and cannot communicate with each other in Shorthand. A document may have been copied in Shorthand by one clerk, and in his absence it cannot be referred to because he writes a system different from that of the other clerks. The thing would be intolerable, and principals would soon begin to inquire what system was written by applicants for clerkships, with a view to preventing the inconvenience that might result from having different systems employed in the office. It seems to be taken for granted that shorthand writers are to be always amanuenses who write only

But a

to dictation. But see in what position this places a principal. He is never to draft a document unless he has a shorthand writer at his elbow. He may be in the country or at the seaside. He may have learned at Rugby quite enough Shorthand to enable him to commit his thoughts to paper in Shorthand, and would gladly do so, but he reflects that Jones at the office does not write the same system, and What a nuistherefore cannot copy the draft. He will exclaim, ance!" and will do what he can to prevent the recurrence of the nuisance. He may be at his office in town, and may wish to communicate with Jones by written memorandum (perhaps in the temporary absence of Jones); but it is of no use, he must wait for Jones. No; if Shorthand is to be generally used, different systems will cause annoyance and trouble. Business and social intercourse can gain most by the general adoption of one system. We want to lengthen life by writing our private letters in Shorthand. We shall write many more letters; we shall write them less hurriedly; we shall say what we have to say; and we shall feel correspondence to be less of a burden and more of a pleasure. But we shall be denied all these advantages if we are in doubt as to the system of Shorthand that has been acquired by the friend we wish to write to. We ought all to know one system, even if it be not ideally the best. In these remarks the higher professional uses are left out of account, but they cannot be ignored. Expert shorthand writers have their notes read and written out by others. Newspaper managers are beginning to think of having their "copy" written in Shorthand-a long or elementary style, of course, which printers will be specially trained to read. When we consider all the ways in which Shorthand may be used, we cannot but reflect that the multiplication of systems will be a great calamity, and ought to be discouraged in every legitimate When we review all that has been going on for years, not only in this country, but also in the United Staies, we cannot have a doubt as to the system in which the English speaking race has the greatest community of interest. There are some differences between one American school and the other Amercan and English schools which are founded on the same system, but those differences do not destroy the fuudamental unity of the schools; and the fact that there are many thousands on both sides of the Atlantic who could communicate with each other in one system of Shorthand, which may be ultimately unified in its details, proves that that system holds the field. Whilst, therefore, individuals may very well be left quite free to write what system they like, making their choice on their own responsibility, it is important that it should be clearly understood that society has most to gain from sticking to one system, and promoting its general adoption.

manner.

[First Staje ov the Spelling Reform.] JURNALISTIK NOTES.

At a meeting ov the Selekt Kommittee ov the Hous ov Kom monz, appointed to konsider the regulashonz az to the admishon ov stranjerz to the Hous, held on 12th April, the Serjeant-atArmz explaind the regulashonz relativ to the admishon to the various Galleriz. In respekt to the lobbi, sertain restrikshonz wer made in 1885, and the admishon ov the Pres woz limited to one member for each paper reprezented in the Reporterz' Galleri, and the list at the prezent time inkluded, he said, sixti-six memberz ov the Pres. He had a great meni applikashonz everi year from kuntri newzpaperz, and had to anser that the rule az to the admishon ov the Pres kud not be departed from, az it wud ad veri konsiderabli to the krowded state ov the lobbi if a larjer number ov reprezentativz ov the Pres wer admitted. He did not think that eni uther rule than the prezent wud be wurkabel. It seemz a fair and reazonabel arranjement that the privilej ov akses to the lobbi shud be restrikted to thoze jurnalz which go to the expens ov maintaining reporterz in the Hous.

A resent return givz the following az the year'z profits ov the newzpaperz ownd by the nashon :-London Gazette, £16,331; Edinburgh Gazette, £3,021; Dublin Gazette, £425; a total ov £19,779, or £650 les than the previous year.

The New York Independent, the leading relijus paper in the United States, iz modifying its spelling. It drops the useles letterz in a few wurdz. For instans, it haz uniformli renderd tho and altho insted ov though and although.

The National Baptist, Philadelphia, edited by the Rev. Dr Wayland, the wel-known theolojian, ernestli advokates the kauz ov Spelling Reform.

(Kontinued on paje 202.)

One day a hog, an ox, a cow, a dog, and a sheep all met in a straw yard. The hog told the rest that he thought that beast stood first in rank who was kept most for his own sake, and not for the sake of the work that he did. "Now, which of you," said he, ". can boast of this so well as I can?" To the horse he spoke first. "As for you, though you are well fed, and have grooms to wait on you, and make you sleek and clean, yet all this is for the sake of your work. Do not I see the man on the farm take you out at break of day, put you in chains, or bind you fast to the shafts of a cart with a load in it, and keep you out till noon? Then, in the space of an hour does he not take you to work once more till dusk? I may say just the same of the ox, save that he does not work for such good fare." To the cow he spoke next: You, who are so fond of your straw and grain, you are thought worth your cost for your milk, which they draw from you twice a day; and your young ones, who should by right have the milk, are took from you to go no one knows

where." Then thus spoke he to the sheep: "They turn you out to shift as well as you can on the bare hills. You pay dear for your keep, for you have to part with your warm coats once a year, and at night starve with the cold. As for the dog, he has to keep watch all the live long night, while the rest of us are wrapt in soft sleep. In short, you are all poor slaves, kept for use; while I, on my part, have a warm stye, with food close to my mouth all day, and free of cost. All they want from me is to see me eat my food from the troughs, bask in the sun, and live at my ease." Thus spoke the hog. But in a short time the frost set in, and, as it was a bad time for all kinds of food, the man was in great straits to keep his live stock till the spring. "How can I feed them all?" thought he. "I must part with those I can best spare. As for my horse and ox, I shall have work for them-they must be kept, cost what it will. My cows will not give much milk in the frost, it may be, but they will calve in the spring, and will thrive in the new grass; the sheep will do as long as there is a blade on the hills; and if a deep fall of snow