The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-24 00:00:00

844.

LITERATURE.

MULLER'S SCIENTIFIC MYTHOLOGY.
Longman, London, 1844.

Muller's scientific system of mythology is a work
that has long been popular on the Continent from the
vast extent of its research, the force of its reasoning,
and the ingenuity of its speculations. The present
translation of it is from the pen of a gentleman named
Seitch, who has accomplished a difficult—and in less
able hands an impracticable—task with great success.
His style is remarkable for its clearness and simpli-
city, and throughout his version he adheres with com-
mendable fidelity to the original text. Such a trans-
lation was much wanted, for there are numerous clas-
sical scholars among us who are wholly unacquainted
with the German language; and by these Muller's
Mythology—which we understand is looked on as
his chef d'oeuvre—will be regarded as a great addition
to their intellectual stores. The work, which is one
of the profoundest character and goes deep into the
heart of its subject, is divided into distinct chapters,
each of which works out one of the author's theories.

THE ANTI-ABSURD, OR PHRENOTYPIC
ALPHABET AND ORTHOGRAPHY. By
Major Beniowski.
Whatever opinions may be formed of the author's
success in devising a remedy for the acknowledged ab-
surdities of English orthography, the paramount im-
portance of the subject entitles his attempt to praise,
and his plan itself, at least, to a candid consideration.
But a bold design, however simple, and even promis-
ing, which proposes a wide and sudden departure from
established error, is sure to be rejected on the first
instance by the majority of the learned as absurd and
impracticable. The author, therefore, may expect to
undergo this immediate and peremptory judgment,
and to find in it his greatest, if not insuperable, diffi-
culty. It is indeed a startling enterprise to change
all at once the orthography of our old and copious
language, and to introduce several new characters
into its alphabet. The author endeavours, and with
much ingenuity and force of argument, to demon-
strate, that to effect all this is very, very easy ; yet
it is much easier to show that our present system is
not only erroneous and inconvenient, but absolutely
and extensively mischievous. His demonstrations on
this part of his subject are complete, and his argu-
ments unanswerable. His proposed cure of the evils
which he demonstrates will be considered far more
questionable. It will be conceded to him that our
imperfect alphabet and irregular orthography not
only cause the greatest difficulties to foreigners in
learning English—a language, in all other respects
one of the easiest in the world—but mainly serve to
exclude a deplorably large portion of our people from
the benefit and blessings of an ability to read their
own language. Major Beniowski dwells with great
force and much feeling upon the loss—the positive
and grievous injury which the people of the Conti-
nent, and especially his own countrymen, sustain, in
being shut out from participating in the enlighten-
ment of the only free literature on earth. He says :
" The English is the language of two of the most pow-
erful nations in the world. The information poured upon
mankind by English speakers and writers, surpasses in
quality and quantity all that is given of the kind by the
speakers and writers of the refit of the world taken toge-
ther. In England, and England only, we may hear the
opinions of all parties, and thus have a fair chance of ar-
riving at truth, whilst on the Continent we meet with
nothing but statements dictated by parties in power :
this, particularly, takes place in religious and political
matters. All these things are well known to foreigners
as to Englishmen ;—foreigners in all quarters of the
globe arc perfectly convinced that they have an im-
mensity of information to get from the English
press, but they cannot generally afford to study
the English language on account of its difficul-
ties—difficulties not inherent in the language it-
self—no—but in its reading. If it were not for
that reading, the study of the English would be easier
than that of any other, because the grammatical inflec-
tions, and syntactical rules, are a mere nothing in com-
parison with the same items of other languages ; and
particulary must the English language be easy for the
literati of Europe, who are very seldom ignorant of the
Latin and German, or French and German ; there being
but very few words in the English which are not to be
found in the above languages. Still, with all these faci-
lities, very few foreigners out of England venture to
study her language, and out of them, only one of ten
succeeds ; all this owing to the intricate and contradic-
tory rules of reading. Thus thousands—millions—na-
tions of men anxious to read the good cheap pages of
England, must not do so ; the contemptible pigmy, the
Alphabet, has put his veto."
The author attributes the fact that the English are
the worst linguists in Europe to the same cause, and
the French, the next to them in that unfavourable
distinction, to a similar defect in their written lan-
guage, whilst he asserts that the well-known supe-
riority of the Russians and Poles in their power of ac-
quiring the languages of other nations is entirely
owing to the excellence of their own alphabets, and
the correctness of their orthography. Very many
who may agree with him in all this will be slow to
admit the practicability or the infallibility of his re-
medy; although it is his own opinion, supported (it
appears) by experiment, that " persons entirely igno-
rant of reading and writing may become readers and
writers in a fortnight," and that, after they have
reached these attainments, in books printed in his or-
thography, they will in one day be enabled to read
according to the existing orthography—a large pro-
mise, and full of incalculable good. Let us not hastily
prejudge the event; for the books upon his plan are
in print. The experiment has commenced, and the
author's energy is a guarantee that the undertaking
will not fail for want of an ample trial. It may be
observed that no new types whatever are used in the
Major's books, and that the principal innovations are
the employment of inverted letters to signify the
varied sounds of the vowels, each vowel being used
only for its primary sound, or that of its name in the
alphabet. The manner in which these changes are
effected do not seem to add very much to the diffi-
culties of etymology, which has been hitherto re-
garded as the greatest objection to spelling according
to sound. To these observations we will only add,
that to render the art of reading universally easy
would be of immense advantage in the education of
the people, and that every well-directed attempt to do
so is worthy of the most earnest encouragement.

BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.