Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1866-05-25
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The Society of Arts held meeting OF
Wednesday evening to receive the account o
most remarkable invention, reports and ru
mors of which appeared some time ago in tn,
Scotch newspapers but without attracting
much notice here. The inventor is Mr., Mel
vile Bell, of Edinburgh, well known as a
successful teacher of eocution and an inves-
tigator Of the capacities of the human voice
and his invention consists of an alphabet OF
thirty signs, by means of which, and their
various combinations, it is alleged he is able
TO represent every sound Of which the human
voice is capable. The system has already
won the most cordial approval Of several dis
tinguished phiologists and one of them Mr..
Ellis, well known for his researches into the
subject of sound representation, occupied the
chair at the delivery of Mr.. Bells lecture on
Wednesday evening. Marvellous and impos-
sible as such system may seem, it is only
the truth to say that Mr.. Bell demonstrated
not only its possibility, but that he had in
vented an alphabet which could be used with
considerable facility. The test was this
A number of gentlemen present-all were
invited to do the like--repeated to Mr.. Bell
sentences and phrases from great variety of
tongues-from the polished Arabic or Syriac,
or Chinese, to the barbarous Hottentot and
other savage languages, including several of
our provincial dialects. These Mr.. Bell
wrote down in his alphabet. some Of the
sounds being such as he had not heard before,
and his son, who had been in a room ad Join
ing, was brought in and read the sounds
which had been written with the most perfect
exactness, rendering correctly the drawl OF
splutter Of the various local dialects, and the
scarcely appreciable rehasments in pronunci-
alton Of other languages. The test was most
varid and searching and left no doubt on the
minds of those present as to Mr.. Bells sue
cess. Various remarkable cases of the ease
with which the system enabled the pronunci-
etion of foreign language to be taught were
also related. The letters of his alphabet
were not shown to the audience by Mr.. Bell,
who is DESTROYS, before fully making known
his secret, to get it introduced to the world
with the authority of some learned body
and be has offered to submit it TO the exam
ination Of the council Of the Society Of Arts,
with the view Of its receiving their approval.
In addition to lite use in teaching pronun-
citation, the al phebet, in the opinion of the few
who have been privileged TO examine it, will
be eminently suited for telegraphic purposes.
1t is a phonetic system which the most differ
emit peoples can make use of and understand /;
and Tor telegraPhic wires passing through
several countries it seems to solve the prob
lem which is found so troublesome on our
Indo- European line. To the science of com
parative philology its services will perhaps be
most striking. 1t has long been the despair
of philologists to devise an alphabet which
would represent the sounds of all and any
languages for the purposes of comparison
an alphabet which might become common
one to travellers and missionaries exploring
new regions or learning new languages, as
well as for pathological savans. That desid-
erdtum seems now supplied, and If the alpha
bet can be generally adopted it provides the
means of stereotyping all the existing Ian
guages on the earth for the purposes Of com
parison and history. Without accepting all
that is said in its favor, it is at least apparent
that the system merits the most thorough
scientific investigation, which we trust il will
receive London Globe.