New-York tribune., 1901-06-02
ESPERANTO.
A FRESH SUGGESTION FOR A UNIVER-
SAL LANGUAGE MADE BY
A RUSSIAN.
From Engineering.


being held at Paris steps should be taken to
secure the adoption of universal language for
scientific and commercial purposes. ProJetts
of this nature are brought forward periodically.
and never fail to secure the adhesion of a GER
tain number of distinguished names. An i'm
menSe deal is be said in their favor, the ad-
vantages manifest, and little urged
against them: but as the trick of the cat
in the fable was worth more than the foxs
score, this little is of supreme Importance.
Thus at one time Latin in a uni
versal scientific language, but it was subse-
quenty abandoned. because IL failed to meet
modern requirements. This failure. believe.
not due to either its limited vocabulary
TO its complicated grammar, but rather to the
fact that the connection between the craftsman
and the scientific investigator is now very di-
rect. Up till the beginning of last century the
methods used in manufactures of nearly every
description We're based entirely the expert
ence of centuries, the principles underlying
them We're not understood. ana it was therefore
impossible properly to coordinate them. Long
apprenticeships We're therefore necessary, in
which We're acquired the mysteries of the trade.
All this is now changed. The modern manu-
lacturer IS not satisfied To know that certlin
procedure is successful but wishes also to know
why, since he may thereby he able to improve
his methods. or render available for his pur-
poses cheaper raw material. For aid in this
regard he relies upon the researches carried cut
IN chemical and physical la laboratories, and were
the results of such Investigations published only
in a language not understood of the people
the industries of any country would be
spOndngly handicapped. Gauss. we believe,
was the last man of eminence to publish his
work in Latin.
and sanEuine individuals fOresaw Il time when
this jargon would be the mother tongue of the
whole of the human creation. Nevertheless,
Nolapuk has been given up by the advo-
Gates of internationalism in language, and
the sufrages of the literary and scientific
world are now sought for Esperanto. an drti-
fetal language due To DIR Zamenhof Russian
linguist The grammar Of this LANGUAGE is
stated To consist of sixteen rules without any
EXCEPTIONS ana there hut seventeen nod-
fcations If the examinations of words. The
words thtmxclvt:, are based mainly on roots
Il
Ii is claimed that with ten minutes instruction
in the grammar a novice can translate Esper-
anto with the aid of q dictionary only, while
a months study sufiCes In enable him to write
or speak it. the latter operation being smpitcd
by phonetic spelling.
About fifty thousand people in different parts
of The world have. II is stated. taken IN its
study, AMI could one insure that all the sciencc
and literature OF the future would be written
in this language the schoOlbOy of the next ger
GRAFTON would have time at his disposal
for the cultivation of the important pursuits of
cricket and football. which he Is forced 20
mt glect for such time is needed To give him
some suaitering -: French and German. TO say
nothing of the classical tongues
Unfortunately. until new language has 7
certain vogue II is as useless as rudimentary
electric crzaL would be IL the hypothetical an
Ctstpr or the EVmn0tus. IL our innovat1rS
could solve this well known problem in evou-
ticr they might get some valuable hints as to
how the intermediate period in the case of their
own speciality might be negotiated. Neverthe-
less. there is little doubt that for international
communication Il universal Iangul.e would
have numerous advantages in simplifying com
merce and facilitating the interchange If ideas.
As matters stand however. il is much more
likely that an eXistips tongue should he adopted
as such medium than that any OF the fancy
tongues devised 10y sanguine inventors should
come into favor. whatever their tnaD-eticaI
merits. Indeed. II certain extent tliS is aCtu-
ally the case. on the Baltic and Black SeI
shipping charters are commonly drawn in Eng
lish. whatever the nationality OF the parties in
tcrested: ana in view of the Immense spread Of
the English tongue during tn" last century the
day may not We distant when most ciI ,li.ed
people will bc fairly we'll acquainted Xith it.
Al the present Time one or two authors of for
eiSn nationality write in English in preferences
To their native tongues since a wider lie Z
readers is thus open To them
II must however be admitted that English
has some serious drawbacks. our grammar is
II is true fairly simple; hut the less said atCut
our Syst":' or want Of system. in the matter Of
spelling, the better The latter point is. how
ever. perhaps Of miner importance, as our Amer
lean friends are. step by step. Introducing SIM
plhCationS. each Of which in turn rXcitcS the
ire and derision of the highly conservative pub
liz on this side OF the Atlantic. hut of which
many, nevertheless have probably come to-
stay. The French rather less conserva-
tive in such matters than the average Briton.
since cnly last year some important simriitioa-
uonS in grammar and photography were oiH-
ciallY recognized.
The main draw wback To English is however
rather to lie fOGn | in the fact hat it is prob
ably easier to be ambiguous in it than in any
other language From the point of vi " of the
party politician this is no doubt not without its
&c cCmpenSatunS. ana We can all recolleCt cases in
which eminent political leaders have derived
every benefit from this pee uliarty Of mother
tongue In science. however, ambiguity should
be "banisheG to Saturn" or further.
LOSSES BY BOERS IND RIILTIYS