The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1862-01-04

lls.s.s. EinoRs - With yosr permission
I aesire 70 make . fsw renarks, fhrough
your columns, concerning matter em-
braced in the repors Of the Secretary OF the
Board of Education, made at the late meet
ing Of that body
We End embodied in this report, some
remarks open The subject of t.Phonesics or
Photography" taken from the annual re-
port u Nj. mason, Superintendent Of Pub
lie Instruction for the County of Dabuque,
in which that gentleman says, Is There IS
6 danger Of Introducing under the head OF
/. photography, ,he subject Of Pdaneties, or
:. Photography, tas Teachers Ins'i'uses)
g and Of not only consuming the time OF
| 50 the Institute uoproisabiy, bat Of mis-
:. leading the teachers, and exciting ex-
S pec,a,icns which can never be realised"
The report is continued Ut considerable
length, bus hare only time to notice some
Of the absurd,ties contained in the three
I" positions ''of bis argument. He says:
Fir.s-It is not possible for civilized
IS people, having literature enriched by
8. the accumulation Of ages, to change their
/" alphabet.
!" Second lift we're possible TO do this,
IS the spelling and pronunciation Of no LAM
:. gusge can ever be Exed BY any alphabet.
"9for language is ever progressive and ma-
I, IS table and
/" Third IN It we're possible, the ad-
sc yaptages would he far out weighed by the
Sc losses We would sostaiD."
His first position, he seems to give up OF
himself, by arguing the others, for if bis
| FIRST position be correct, there must be the
end of it, for that which it is impossible to
do, We presume, cannot possibly be DONE
10 his second position he assumes that SIT
Photography will neither FIX our spelling
nor pronunciation" because, as there are
so many ways of pronouocins the same
words. inr epresensing words by sound there
would inevitably be difference in the spell
ling. He then speaks of the difficulties that
exist in spelling by the present system, and
gives as an example, eight different ways of
| spelling his own name, and Acknowledges
| that such would be the case with most
words in our language, were it not for the
constant drilling at school.
So far as bis remarks apply to Phonet'cs
| VIC have nothing to say for the Phono-
graphic system has done away with all ne.
cessity for tho Phonetic, and in treating his
remarks only as they apply to Photography,
| hope to convince the gentleman Of some
Of his errors. Charity compels me to con-
Guide that he does not thoroughly under
stand the capabilities Of the system, for it
is competent to do nearly all that he as
,nes is impossible to be done. The sys-
ten of Photography, in the "Co.responding
Style" is the most concise, philosophical,
distinctive and perfect system imaginable.
Taere is no sound uttered in speaking the
English language that may not be correctly
represented by Photographic signs. And
the great difficulty which Mr.. Mason refers
to, in our present systematic variety Of
methods of spelling the same words-is en-
tirely overcome by the Photographic sys.
tenn, for there is but one way of represent
ing an5 given word, and the slightest devi.
at;o,, from he proper form, will cause a
correspopd,,.,e change in the pronunciation.
Indeed, according 70 the phoDosraphio 'ys-
TEN, words are no, spene,. at a!'-'hey are
simply uocal>ed. Every SCUM. has Us Pc
GUITAR sign, which represents that sounu
and no other, consequently there can be no
two ways of representing the same word.
The gentleman gives as the probable reason
why different persons, spelling by sound,
would spell the same word differently, the
statement that "There i.a great diversity
SC in the organs of hearing, and persons in
-" initiating the same und differ widely.n
The friends of Photography, do not claim
that where the organs Of hearing are i'm.
p,rfecs 1t will make them perfect. but such
imperfections must be dealt with under one
system the same as under another. More
time would probably be required to learn
oil the characters in the monographs sys-
TEN, on account Of their number, but nearly
adj the time now consumed in learning to
spell and read, would be saved, for as soon
as the characters are readily known all tina.
mains to be done, in order to read, is to
vocal,ze the characters. Certainly less time
would be consumed in this, than is required
by the "work Of constant drilling in school'
and out of school, to acquire and retain
knowledge OF those thousands of ridiculous
absurdities in our present photography,
which can not be kept in the mind by any
analogy in nature, but arc merely an arbi-
trary collection Of characters to represent
words, without respec. to sound.
One other objection wish to notice. In
the report referred to We read--"Air, the
atmosphere, and heir to an estate, are
spelled phonctcaliy nike. How then could
we distinguish them % tits only necessary
to answer this question by asking another:
When We hear words Of this class (and there
are many Of them) spoken 10 common con-
versation, in the lecture room, from the
pulpit, or wherever it may be-how do we
distinguish them There can be bat ore
answer, namely, By their connection with
the subject spoken Of. This objection, il
it be an objection, must be placed where it
properly belongs-to the poverty Of the
language. Aud whenever it becomes neces.
safy 70 change or modify, ever 50 little, any
Of this class Of words, Photography will
always be able to represent them or any
new words that may grow into use,--aad
BY the Introduction Of few more novels,
adapted to foreign tongues, it viii be found
to have the capacity to represent oil Ian
ruagcS The LAT nhinetinn con,.;..a (.