Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-11-25
The Cause of Bad Spelling.
(From the New York Sun.)


To the Editor OF the Sun:
Sir.-In the Sun of November 10TH ap-
pears passage taken from the ST. Louis
Republic, in which Professor Scott, Of lae
University of Michigan makes his con-
,ribution to the veXed question of the
causes accountable Tor the bad spelling
of the rising generation. Among these
causes he places heredity and goes on to
say that he has. in some cases, traced
back the defect to the grandfather.
My own experience, here and in Eng
and, has led me to trace the trouble to
a very different source. l Should ascribe
IT. in the case of boys a least, to the
adoption in this country of the so-caileu
Roman pronunciation OF Latin. the most
srotesque and baHeful of all modern
educational fads, and I base my BELIEF
primarily on the fact that the trouble
with English spelling, SO rampant IN
america, has. SO far as my experience
goes, no existence in England, where the
English pronunciation of Latin is still in
vogue. Furthermore, l am constan lY
meeting with practical proof Of the truth
sof my theory.
AS write. can recall hundreds Of
words which l have seen n:sspel!ed by
american boys who have enjoyed years
Of classical education. words about which
here could be no possible doubt in the
minds of students brought up under the
Did system. l cannot conceive any boy
n the third form Of an English public
school missreling the word captive
rhe Latin captivus is present to the e:e
md ear, and that settles it. Not so with
he American student. To his ear the
Latin original is "capteewus' which.
Of course settles nothing at all 1t is
hardly to be imagined that a boy familiar
With the Latin .scena" should misspel'
ne English scene" But unfortunatel.-.
..scena'-pronounce "skaEna" suggests
1nything RI her than scene" to the nor
nal ear. and-hinc lilac Ia crimae.
JULIAN DE KESTEL-HANKIN.
The cor.ention made by the Suns cor
espondent is nonsense. One spells by
he eye and not by the ear. AS he says
the Latin captiv::s is present to the eye
md ear" and that settles it," OF course.
1T settles it, When people are in doubt
to the spelling OF word. they often,
write down the two or more ways OF
polling the word, that occur to them
their perpIexity, and depend on the
We to determine the correct spelling
which looks" to them the proper one.
The chief cause of bad spelling is
hat the good, oid-fashioned custom OF
,equiring a recitation in spelling every
lay in schools both for primary" and
advanced" pupils, has been discarded
~ the new-fangled methods.
AS to the "so-called Roman pronunca-
ion Of Latin being most grotesque
md baneful Of all modern educational
ads it is enough to say, as Gordon Nc
cabe said in the preface to his edition OF
Singhams Latin Grammar, "the Roman
pronunciation rests on the surest histori-
al basis.
The old-fashioned English pronuncia-
on of Latin which the writer Cam
ions, has been long ago discarded in the
English universities and such schools as
3ton. and Harrow, we are informed.
That that pronunciation is still in
osae in England is true. It is used
" the oldest university dons.5 but it was
practically given up by others years ago,
IS English scholars saw that it could moi
:e defended