The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-08-09

| congress of academies will be a general
| registry office Of learning and discov-
| cry, or, one might put it, an interna-
| tional clearing house Of science.
Its most important function will be
to keen tab on the progress made in
every highway and byway of research
| and thought all over the world It
| will sum up the actual position of
| knowledge in every subject, organize
research on new lines and able so-
lated workers to avoid wasting time
and labor on lines already fully ex-
| plored. The scientific worker in Lon
| don or Berlin will he able to profit
| a, once by the authoritatively recog-
nzed net results Of a worker in the
United states, or vice versa. 1t is not
| too much to say that the whole move
| ment of science and learning during
the coming century should he immcas-
| urahly accelerated by this new institu-
tion.
The idea realized in Paris is not
| new one. Benjamin Franklin advocat-
| ed it in Pars to Noltaire. And long
| before him the great German philos-
| opher and scientist Leihnitz had sug-
| Gested some such International all-
| ance of learned mon. 1t has taken 200
| years to realize what seems to he so
| simple and obviously useful a sugges-
| tion. Leibnitz might we'll have been
| satisfied to see how warmly his colln-
| trymen of this year of grace have
| espoused his idea and how brilliantly
| Germany was represented in the con-
| gress. But what Franklin would have
! said to his Countrymen is more dubi-
| Gus. For, whatever the reason NAV be
| only one American was delegated to
| this assembly-Prof. Goodale-,and by
singular piece Of bad luck he fell
i'll in Switzerland just before the re-
union, and was unable to attend
Into the proceedings of the congress
| there is no need to enter at length. As
a matter Of fact, all that was not
highly technical was purely prclimin-
ary. But there was one interesting
question opened. The congress of ac-
ademes determined to tackle the diff
| cult matter Of a universal Language.
| The need of such a language is being
felt more and more every day. As
trade becomes NOR" and more extend
ed, taking in every country in the
world, the language question becomes
a formidable difficulty. \ large Amer
lean firm will, in the course of year.
| have to write and receive letters in
every dialect spoken wherever Ameri-
can goods are used. Instead of having
- employ many translators, waste a
quantity of priceless time, and in the
end do business unsatisfactorily. il
would he infinitely better to have one
recognized business language, adopted
IN every country and learned as a mat
ter Of course by every one who pro-
posed, either as "A clerk or principal to
enter commerce.
Several experiments have. of couree
been made in this direction. perbans
the most prominent was Volapuk, Bur
Nolapuk is now as dead as the tradi-
ional doornail. The reason is easily
stated. 1t lacked authoritative sane
ton; and it was RECONSTRUCTED in this
respect, that, being purely fantastic,
having no relation to any existing
tongue. il laid a heavy burden on the
memory. Relatively few people cared
to learn difficult language when they
We're not sure that the day after they
had acquired it a new and better sys-
tenn might not appear and he more
generally adopted.
A pathological committee of the con-
sress Of academies will study the oues-
tlon in all its bearings and expects in
the course of few years to work out
or adopt from outside some artificial
language which will meet the condi-
tions of universal success. Such a lam
suage Will have to be absolutely simple
in construction, with no elaborate rules.
easy of pronunciation on phonetic
laws by every race likely to use it,
easily learned by being composed as
far as possible of root words common
to the greatest possible number of lam
guages.
These conditions are not so hard Ia
meet as il might seem. Pronunciation
and grammatical rules are simply a
q. matter of universal agreement. As for
aiding the memory by the use of roots
common to many languages, they can
be found in the Latin words which
abound in nearly every tongue. English
is full of them: French, Spanish and
Italian are almost exclusively made III
OF them, German has a good many.
lAready language has been formed
on this principle. 1t is called Esperanto
and is the creation of a Russian scholar
and Count Tolstoi declares that after
only three hours study he learned tc
read 1t as fiuently as his own tongue
Any one with smattering OF Latir
would certainly master il in a week
II may be that Esperanto will be adopt
ed by the united academies. II II be
the congress will use all its interna
! tional influence to get it officially ac
cepted by every country; perhaps ever
to have IL made a compulsory subjec
in public schools all over the world II
; that case every educated man in tn,