Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-01-20

boiSrs Week-Ee Tells Interesting
Facts Concerning Bibles.
A most interesting illustration of the
marvellous capacity OF the human brain is
found in the person of an employee of a pub
fishing house in this city His duties con.
sist of proofreading in 242 languages and
dialects.
AT the Bible house on Fourth avenue the
American Bible society employs as proof
reader Mr.. j. Emery Mclean. He is a Ma,
tive OF Canada, nearly thirty years of age,
quite feet inches in stature and has
been resident of New York about four
years Aside from his trying task as proof
reader, he has found considerable time to
devote to literary work, which, during the
life OF the late Count Norriakow, Russian
exile, included the correct "Englishing" of
the counts translations of Russian works.
and since the demise of the nobleman. Mr..
Mclean has aided the Countess Ella Nor
rlakow to some extent in her labors.
Mr.. McLean's functions as proofreader
cover the final revision of the proofs Of the
Holy Scriptures as printed and circulated
by the society, the languages and dialects
l242 In number) that he handles being des-
lgnated under these heads: British isles, l
too; continent of Europe, Z to Is; Asia, 20
~ A'H-, viz ioitAiluS, lNO 10 Africa. 100 10
Zl'; American continent, 2lS to 242 For a
TACT, in many cases the specimens of proofs
show the different GlDhabets or characters
which the people use. The sUrkish version,
Tor example, is prepared for Moslems in the
Arabic letter, but for Armcnians an en-
tlrely different form is needed, and for
Greeks yet another; thus, making due al
lowancc for ropetitions, the specimens (242)
actually represent about 2i3 languages and
dialects
AFTER taking into account the wonderful
versatility Of brain necessary to cope with
the almost endless number of words and
characters in these languages, perhaps the
stranSeSt features of his remarkable Gift is
the TACT that Mr.. Mclean is not linguist
-aces not converse in any language but
English, nor does he understand any other,
ms work being done purely through his
power OF embracing form at sight.
rake for Illustration John iii, 16. For
God so loved the world that he gave his
onl Y begotten son, that whosoever believeth
IN HIM should not perish, but have ever
lasting life
This in Dutch reads, Want alzoo lief
heeft God de wereld Chab, dat hi ziinen
eeenlggeboren' zoon gegven heeft, opdat cen
IeGellJk, die in hem gelooft, MET verderve,
LdiLE nCI CeuWlge IeVen hcbbe. u
The Maori (New Zealgnd) version is this:
Ma, kola ano te aroha o te Atua XII te 40,
homa ana ia tana Tamaiti ko tahi, kia
kahore al mate tie tangata whakapono
ana HI Ia, engari kia whiwhi nj HI te
oranga tonutanga."
The Mandingo West Africa reads thus:
"katuko Ala We dunya kannu nyinuyua-
an aiding wulukilering di, mensating mo-
amo men lata ala, ate tinyala, BARR asj
balu abadaring sotto.n
In au interview relative to his labors Mr.
Mclean gave some very interesting facts
u find" said he, that the work tells
upon me severely and seriously at times.
have experienced spells that almost verge
upon nervous prostration from the effect of
CONTINUOUS application to proofreadinc,
and when | feel the spell coming on am
obllged TO cease work entirely and rest.
NO, co not understand any language lut
the English. For instance, if l am reading
q proof IN koordish or Arabic / read bv
comparison-that is, l have the original
before me and correct the errors in the
proof by form, and that entails the greatest
possible exhaustion. / mention the Arabic
Tor the reason that that is one of the most
trying forms Of proof to read Look at this
page.
10 an inexperienced eye it resembles an
intoxicated series of pothooks, shorthand
characters and fly specks. The Georgian,
as you see here, is full of crabs claws and
corkscrews. The ancient and modern Ar
menian are each cross between the razzle
daZzle and the ta-ra-ra boom-de-ay dances
The Sanshrit resembles a Mondays wash
Ing hung on Lines to dry-big clothes, little
clothes, pinafores, all kinds Of clothes So
1OaC no i,Ii
trail Indial, the Marathi and several others
only each line appears to be burdened with
different styles Of garments.
How did you get into the way of such
worky''
by years of solid practice. lam 50 e.
customed to the forms of letters and char
acters that my eyes instantly lead me to
detect an error in n word or sentence. The
public at large have not the faintest idea OF
,he magnitude of the manufacture of Bibles.
Take the American Bible society alone.
Il was organized in New York in Nav, 1916.
by convention of delegates from the Bible
societies IN different parts of the country.
It had been preceded by a large number OF
ocal and independent organizations, the
oldest OF which was that established in
in 1903. Its work is benevolent
md unsectGrian. The only version in the
English language which it can circulate is
hat which has been commonly received
Iince the year 1911.
"Upto date its total issues of Bibles, Tes-
aments and integral portions of the Scrip
.ures are over 50,000,000 copies, and its ex.
Denditures will reach nearly So, OOO. 900. The
American society acts in conjunction with
he British and Foreign Bible society SO far
IS circulation is concerned. The version of
he English Bible now in common use was
irst printed in 1911 in folio volume which
1900 pages, each measuring six
cen inches by eleven. II two pages were
printed at one time and $50 impressions
we're taken in one hour, each press in a day
IF ten hours would yield the equivalent of
.hree Bibles. and ten presses would be re-
luired for production Of 5000 Bibles
rear.
I'm 1859 the Protestant missionaries were
ent TO Japan, and it took them twenty
'ears before their translation Of the entire
Sew Testament was ready for circulation
mention these facts merely to illustrate