Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-03-24
TIE oRqnoeRAPHIc RnFoRM-No. 8
ny JUNIus.

sentation of our language. We say practical
for there had been no less than sixteen previous
attempts of a similar kind; among them, those
of John Hart in 1869, DIR. Franklin, in 1863
and Sir Wn. Jones, 1907 But these men,
with all their erudition, failed: and it was left
for a country school teacher to conceive the
| happy thought which had long refused TO crown
the labors of older and, perhaps. wiser heads.
| During the summer of 1887, Mr.. Pltman in
stituted a series of shorthand writing, adapted
! to the wants of the masses. He began by dis
carding the old alphabetical arrangement, and
| seeking to give each element of our tongue Il
simple representation; and he succeeded so well
/ that his perseve:ing labors resulted in the de-
velopment of a system known rs Pitman's pho
netic shorthand, or Photography. Since that
time it has been critically tested, and greatly
/ improved, by intelligent men both in Great Brit
ain and in the C. S, until it has arrived at
point of completeness never even dreamed of
by its sangIine originator OF this, more here
after So occupied was Mr. Pitman in perfect
I ing his invention, that not until about 1912 does
! he seem TO have considered seriously that the
principle of representation might he applied
with equal advantage to printing. In 1874 he
published his first phonetic alphabet. There
were gentlemen of wealth, learning and posi-
| tion who took deep interest in the matter,
and assisted Mr. Pitman with funds and cOun-
sells, in bringing his alphabet into public notice.
| Prominent among these was A. j. Ellis u. A,
who wrote and published powerful arguments
i'll favor of its adoption, and to whom the Or
( thographic Reform is deeply indebted for the
position it now occupies.
The basis of Mr.. Pitman's shorthand and
tYpic alphabet, is a masterly analysis of the En-
gish tongue. 1t will be readily understood that
we cannot present it here in its own proper
dress. Perhaps. however, the following outline
will be sufficiently Ineligible The divisions
consist of roceLs, diphthOngs, cOnleSccats 6reath
ing, eppI0deats cOmtimmaRts, LiqWioLS, nuSnLS.-
The sounds are indicated by the italicized let
letters in the illustrative words.
LoNG vowELs-eel, earth, de air, arm, all,
/ ok, OOze, 49, SHORT vowELsz-it ell, >Hm, ask,
on, mp, wood, ca DIPHTnoNGs-ice oil, O1cl,
d"pe ~ CoALEsCENTs-yca, 'eay, CD
BHEATnlNG (Or d&pimtc)-hay, a. EXPLo-
DENTs-pipe, bowl, toe, doe, cheer, jeer, came
game, 81 CoNTINUANTs- fear, ceer, thigh, thy,
seal, zeal, vicious, vision, 49, LIouIDs-LuH,
rare, (2.) NAsALs--maIm none, sing, 81 To-
tai, 43.
Strictly, all the clements here given, arc not
sounds, as they have heretofore been spoken of,
and as we shall for convenience still call them.
Thus the cOdtescents % and 40 have no audible
sounds, but arc simply positions of the organs
before prOnouncing vowel or diPhthong,
and can be pronounced only in connection there
with; while the aspirate is merely u breathing
or vowel before sounding it. The erpLOdents
and continents are clasSed in pairs, according
to their similarity of sundS thus, p is whispered
and b spoken; so and d, 7 and c, and and G.
In each OF these pairs, the elements almost
identical The difference is, that the light or
whispered sounds, p, I, rand c, like the coales-
cents, are not sounds but positions, which re-
Quire vOwcls Ur diphthongs to complete them;
while the heavy or spoken D, Il, Z, : and e, need
uttvrancc in the throat before they can he form
ed The remarks III reference To the coaes-
cents and light paired CUnSnnantS, apply to the
liquids and nasalS. Observe: though half the
elements of speech are pOireFx, not sounds, they
are no less essential elements
Here is an alphabet with Wilderness and mr.
rangement worthy Of being called such, which
invites critical though fair examination. With
it any word in our language may be easily, ac-
curately, and scientifically spelled The process
is a natural One-that ofcomLiniHg the repre-
scntatives of sounds combine the sounds
themselves in speech. 4 child acquainted with
this alphabet, and instructed little to observe
the nature of words with the mode of analyzing
them, can directly spell, with the utmost exact
ness, any word out oC the eighty thousand COM
priSing our language; and with trifling prac-
tice, can read tluemtly the page printed in this
type
over the Romantic one, that truth always pos
sesSes even error, beauty over uglinCss, attrac-
tiveneSs over responsiveness. II is as much an
engaging truth, us our photography is a forbid
ding falsehood. And the great beauty of it is,
that it is a practical truth; none of your high
flown ccStasied, theoretical truths, that vanish
into thin air, or thinner nothing, when exposed
to the test ofpracIcc. Dispensing with all ST
lent letters, it effects great economy in print
ing. paragraph taken at random, was found
to contain 100 letters, and of these 100 were
useless.
teen per cent. of paper, ink, type, type-sctting,
and the avoidance of ut least half the errors of
the compositor, and the consequent lessening of
the labors of the proofreadcr, would result
from the employment of rational printing al
ph9bet For instance, the publishers of the In
teti'geaeer, by economizing that amount in la
Dor and material, could give their readers fif.
teen per cent. more matter for the same money.
than they can now give. That is to saw, If the
lntetttgcnccr u ere printed with phonetic type
its value would be enhanced fifteen per cent.
without additional cost; and of course its circu
iation and influence increased propOrtionabv-
Printed in this simple character, it could be read
alike by the lettercd and unIettered, and scat
tered broadcast among those 10000 chivalrous
defenders of the Old Dominion, who acknowl-
edge her laws but cannot read them, an unim
aSinabc amount of good might be accomplish
tedC). Ii we extend these calculations 10 all
the Journals in the country, and estimate the ag-
gregate unnecessary expenditure, adding the
consideration that it might be turned To an