The Washington herald., 1910-08-07
URGE REFORM IN TYPE
Alphabet

been reduced to figures. The peda-
gogical side Of reading is part Of ths
education OF students In the normal
school
Suggestions Of desirable typographical
reforms have been made now and then.
They are said to have been begun about
thirty years ago, when NJ laval. a
Partisan oculist, starting out with the
thesis that there has been a marked in
crease OF sightedness in modern
times, undertook to show that much of 1t
was due TO bad typography.
Whatever the value Of his general con-
illusions. Javai drew up number OF in
teresting recommendations as a result of
his studies. lie argued against the use
OF white paper. urging instead a buff tint
on which he would print with an ink
tinged with blue. The use of leading.
contrary to the general impression. ne
found TO be of little or no advantage in
promoting legibili;yg.
The results which printers sometimes
attempt TO secure through introduction Of
leads he believed to be much better OBJ
talned through more careful spacing be-
tween words. Most OF his conclusions
regarding the letters themselves were
based on HIS discovery, which other in
vestigators have confirmed. that the eye
OF the readers follows horizontal line,
cutting the words just above the tops Of
the short letters Il Is that fact which
makes words contains letters with pro-
longations above the line OF vision more
distinctly characterized on the page and
therefore more readily recognized in all
tests than words composed entirely of
short letters. Because there has been
gradual rounding and fiattening of the
small letters laval pleaded for appen-
dages which would give moro Of the let
ters something distinctive above the line.
Somewhat later r. c. Sanford, now
professor Of psychology at Clark Uni
versity, Worcester. after making study
OF the conditions OF reading. brought
forward some proposals for reformation
Of some Of the characters. He maintained
that enlargement of size and increase of
differences are first aid to ciearness.
Concentration Of popularity upon one
feature is an important element. So is
simplicity Of outline.
Discovering, as others have done. that
the letter IS" is bad in the tests. either
because It is not recognized at all or be-
cause it is confused with some other
letter, DR.. Sanford recalled Benjamin
Franklin's argument against giving up
the old-fashioned long as" and urged a
return 20 this form. Most people now
adays in reading books Of the eighteenth
century confuse this IS" with "f," but
the Clark University investigator asserted
that the two could be differentiated by
carrying the 's'' below the line.
The dot over the e." against which so
many reformers have inveighed. DR.. I
Sanford seemed to find of some value in
a word Ike mine" II would be much
more useful II. as Dr. laval once urged. /
It could he placed on level with the top
Of the II" rather than with the top OF
the ct"
Many other recommendation have been
made with a view to modifying the type
faces used IN printing school books. gov
eminent publications, and other works OF
an educational character Some OF the /
reforms urged by DR.. laval have been |!
adopted by an American type foundry /
company for some Of its recent fonts.
Questions Of the size Of type are raised l
frequently. Experiments performed by I
Frantz & Grifing have proved definitely /
that fatigue increases with the dlminution /
Of the size Of the type. These investiga- /
tors hold out for height in educational |
works Of one and flve-tenths millimeters /
for the short letter. This means a ten
point type.
The ideal thickness Of the vertical /
strokes OF the letters has been determined /
to be twenty-five millimeters. The length /
OF line which is easiest to read is placed /
at sixty mlllimeters. the width Of the or
binary newspaper column. Tho newspa- /
pers, with their narrower columns. have I
more closely Appropriated the require |
ments OF their readers than the makers
OF books. who perslstently print too wide |
columns for comfortable reading. In the /
printing OF large book pages, when there
is question Of two narrow columns as
against one column. the former arrange
ment should be preferred.