Plymouth advertiser. [volume] (Plymouth, Ohio) 1853-1988, 1854-12-01
Rtom tie 0kio Journal Of EdsoafiOa.
phons aSphY.

one OF lmpOTtahoteo e'ei.
land. From the time when language was
first reduced to writing until now, man has
been racking his inventive genius TO dis
cover mod S of shortening the methods OF
wiring that he has at va ious times used.
To pass silently over the steps from the
pictorial to the hieroglyphieal representa-
ton Of spoken language, and from that to
the monosyllabic, and finally to the alpha
bette, let us for a moment look and see II
such efforts have not been constantly made,
ever since the first establishment ofthe let
ter.
Instead of writing one, FIVE, ten, fifty, or
words equivalent thereto, L, V, y, l., were
carly resorted to as labor saving abbreyla-
tions. But not satisfied with this, we have
resorted to a still more brief method, by
the general introduction OF the Arabic sys-
tenn of motion.
The merchant writes DIR. for Debtor, Cr.
forCreditor, HID. for Hogshead, Mdse for
Merchandise, and so on, through long list.
If we open any work upon science, ''Ia-
bic of Abbreviations" meets our eye.
Every where, from the plus sign of the
mathematician to the formula ofthe chem
ist, we find the same practical acknowl-
eigment that our mode of writing is quite
too cumbersome. But man has not been
willing to stop with these abbreviations.-
For a long series of years he has been in
search of some general method ofwriting,
by means of which the now tardy pen
should keep pace with the tightening like
movements of the tongue
After many, very many, unsuccessful
because unphilosophical, it has been ac-
complished. In 1887, Mr.. Isaac Pitman,
of Bath, England, brought out a system
that meets this demand 1t has been for
long time before the public, that it is not
necessary to say more about his principles
than that it consists of a philosophical re-
presentation of the elementary sounds OF
the language: the consonants being repre-
sented by right lines and curves, and the
vowes by dots and dashes, and the dipth'
thongs by combinations at once easily
male legible.
AS system of reporting, no one, pro-
badly, can be found who will question its
value. While DR.. Dwight could dictate
to two amanuenses, Napoleon to seven,
and Lord Petersburg to nine: there is no
one, believe, who wish to dictate to more
than one photographer at time; and he
finds his exact language recorded.
1t is SO lcgible that, now, a lady in Gin
cinnati is wriaing out, from the unre-
vised manuscript of reporter, a verbatim
report Of a recent debate, which occupied
seven DAYS, and which she did not hear.
But to the individual, it has more impor-
tant uses than that of system of report
ing. 1t is now used by many, and may be
by all, for keeping dairies and journals,
for business and friendly correspondence,
fot bookkeeping, for writing for the press,
(limited only by the ability of the COM
positor to read photographic manuscript
for writing sermons and lectures, and in
short, for every kind of writing in which
the ordinary long hand is now employed
While this is true, so far beyond doubt
that no one, who has given the subjec
even slight examination, will call the
fact in question, it does seem to me tina
there is great responsibility resting upor
the educators of present day, in respect tc
placing this great means of improvement
in the hands of all who are now pursuing
their school course. Permit me to ask
each educator, whose eye may glance ovel
this article, to look at the vast amount o
labor it would have saved him, if, when ht
was receiving his discipline, a pen ha(
been placed in his hand that would have
kept pace with his tongue, at least, if no
with his mind.
Says Thomas Hart Benton, in references
to photography, chad it been known fort,
years ago, it would have saved me twent,
years Of hard labor. proportion to you
age, can you not, fellow teachers, say TIN
same to yourself? If this system ha
been known in our school-boy days, an
those who had charge of our education ha
failed to urge it upon us as necessar
part of our school course, would we, tc
day, feel that they had performed their du
ty as they should have done?
| have been led to these remarks by
knowle lge of the fact, that, while we al
laboring to extend the blessings of fire
education, that shall be good enough 70
the richest, and cheap enough for the poor
est to every child in our land, only her
and there is there a chool in which thi
great means of self-improvement is place.
within the reach of the people. The unite'
testimony ofall who have studied phonog
raphy is, that every one who has the capa
city to learn to read and write the ordinar,
long hand, can, with more ease, learn t.
read and write photography; and that s.
far from its being any detriment to thei
advancement in other branches, it aid
them in mastering many of them.
CHARLES S. ROYCE.
Plymouth, 0, October, 1854.