New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-05-02
The Science of Photography.

The Science of Photography.
BosToS, ! 7-i e. Isis.
To iie Edito- q 7z< 5ep-I'orf Tribune:
Since have been here have met with nothing
Of interest enough 10 communicate 10 you out OF
the common track OF newspaper intelligence, but
there is one thing now attracting attention here OF
wnich nothing is known as yet in New-fors, and
which think deserves especial notice. ! refer to
a new science which mas been brought ont IN Eng
land, and lately introduced into this county. How
nearly ii concerns you and the public to be informed
about il, you may suppose, when tel you as my
candid and most deliberate conviction that II is as
valuable the discovery OF the art OF printing and
in very short SPACE OF time VIII effect greater
revolution IN literature than that discovery,
and advance the cause of general education be-
yond the fondest dreams OF philanthropists. know
This is saying much and holding out bright p:omi-
ses, but then also know am fully justified blythe
facts
This science has aspects may be divided into two
branches one OF which Is termed Photographic or the art
of writing by sound, and the other Poaoy, tie art Of
printing by sound that Is according 20 the elementary
sounds Of the human voice as uttered in speech.
Photography. or Phonetic whiting, viii enable person
to write as quickly as he can speak .noer person
This NAV be COMPOUNDED with Shorthand or Senosraphr,
but they are different things in fact Phonetic writing
blues the rdyd3iy of sienoaphy with the iJyyof og-
hand The NECESSITY OF writing notes Steuor3 Tes
do which Is sach an Immense labor and rterere cgch
with despatch, is entirely obviatec 10 PhoGo apy al
oher person can read WEI the writer the compos
,or can set up the types directly from the manuscript OF
repsr,er which would give faithful report Of The address
Of speaker word for word just Is il fell :ro his lips
Children can write phone;csiy, according 10
sound with the greatest and In an incredibly short
NJ and,
adults. who have been vitaed hy practcng upon false
sysem although cre difficulty In any ones acqu!r
| ing the art Of Phonetic writing most readily.
4 satisfactory explanation Of Photography cannot be
given in the short spce OF letter. BIT; viii hint a; the
idea and leave your readers 10 appy the principles and
| draw their conclusions.
The Alphabet of Nature. comprising all the sounds OF
which human voice capable contains less than Il ~
distinct elements analysis proves, and taee
firm Different Nations however different parts OF the
Universal Alphabet and some less. and the Eng
lish language employs only about forty elements. With
this knowledge have starting point 20 consruc, sy
TEN Of representation OF sounds or IDEAS And a.cersn
Ing that the whole fifty thousand words more In Ian
guage consist Of combination OF these forty elementary
sounds only in dGeren' relations 10 each other we per-
ceivc that the difficulty CT rclresentng truly every
sound tina: uttered dwindes down into very nsgh
cant affair, although might be overwhelmed with the
magnitude of the proposition az the first blush simple
sign every simple sound clement OF the voice Is all
that have makc-tis has been done bv Mr. Pitman
on sic; mathematical principles, that the correspond
analogy between the sound and the sign perfect.
and In insiinctivcly naturally go iogeherie hand
repeats in form merely what the tongue may utter
sound il simultaneously and in perfect concert
When the signs characters are seen The eye distinguish
e the thought they express iutellgcrty and quickly
the when the corresponding sounds are heard may
be this is the with the characters In
fo writing and printing ontit Is unit, after along and
most laboous training and study of rord in the Ian
guage and II is iEorR BY heart at ri sight We are hardly
conscious Of this much are we blinded by our false and
vicious system oforthography but that 1t is fact proved
by what Familiarity known all in reading the difficulty
of making and pronouncug correctly word Of any
length which has never been before. But there
other proofs II any needed In fact the learning 10
read nothing than learning the language by heart
IN this respect the English language is than the Chi
nese whatever may think TO the contrary for although
the Chinese have different sign for every word, there
analogy In the signs Which leads TO the idea and fixes the
signs permanently in the mind, whereas with OIL: written
and printed words there Is only arbitrary combination Of
signs and these have not the virtue of Chinese CHAR
acers fredge they represent various sounds in var
Gus words law but the law Of exception FOR their
use All the vowel, for instance have the sounds of each
and each Of all What mass OF confusion and uncertain
,y is the consequence No wonder children take years TO
read ind that very few any ever Learn to spell
correctly.
photography aims deadly blow at all this monsrous
absurdity language by representing simple sounds by
simple signs Instead, for example, OF writing SIX COM
round and complex characters to represent TWO elemental
rv sounds as In the word HgRy you would the two
signs in thy and in home which tina; WAS dash
- and DO, would be written with tr2 motions of the
hand quickly the word coud bc altered. and instead
Of iregy motions Of the hand which s required 10 write
though Here then is the principle of representing sonads
BY Signs Il obvious that The signs are fixed and
invariably stand for elementary SOUND, is I'M
poss hle 20 make mistake in reading pronourcing
Now apply the principles TO printing as 10 writing
though using different characters and YOU have
Phonotypy and perfect system Photography The ree-
son why there much confusion and absufdy in the
present system that the letters OF the alphabet only
,wenty-sx while the sounds forty; they have be
used In all OF represent sounds and as our
Language derived from various other Languages, We have
Il thousand photographed barbarities which have 10
analogy with each other.
Ono great and beautiful feature OF this new Science IS
tina, while reforms completely the chrography and or
thocraphy language II does disturb lie spoken
iai.uage, and touches only 10 purify ana perfect it,
John Neal lecture here on The subect next Monday
| evening" and OF the Wednesday following Me>srs. An
drews and Boyle the gentlemen no have introduced It iuto
this country have examination OF large clGS Of chill
den from the public schools of the city, exhibit their
proficiency and It's practical utility. understand the pro-
cress Of the children. after few weeks instruction is re-
markahle and their ability read and write psonetcy
truly astonishing Twill inform YOU OF the result Of the
| examination. Yours truly. =.