WITHOUT PREJUDICE

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 56, 30 November 1926, Page 8

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

NOTES AT RANDOM

(By

T.D.H.)

The project of an American professor for reforming the alphabet, announced in the news this monyng, reminds us that the honour of inventing the alphabet does not, so far, seem to have been claimed for the Maori race. This is as the alphabet is generally supposed to have been invented somewhere in the neighbourhood of Assyria. It has occurred to us that it was possibly the invention of the alphabe' by some reforming ass, that decided the Maori nation to migrate from Assyria to some part of the world out of reach of this new horror. We would suggest to Messrs. Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co., and Sir William Arbuthnot Lane and Miss Ettie Rout that research along these lines might be highly profitable. Some good reason for the Maoris hopping out of the Garden of Eden is surely required, and a thing like the alphabet flopped down suddenly on a self-respecting nation would surely be enough to justify desperate action.

There has been a lot of speculation as to just where the alphabet came from. In the eighth edition of the “Encyclopaedia Britannica” issued in 1853, the theorv was advanced that the alphabet was invented by Adam, or, alternatively, that it was hot a human but a divine invention. More prolonged study has roused grave doubts as to the possibility of the alphabet having had any divine inspiration behind it. Most persons, even in their tenderest years, have reached quite the opposite conclusion about the. alphabet. Even the scientists now admit that at no time has it represented with any precision the various European languages which it has been used to express. It was an importation from somewhere outside Europe, and at the best has never been anything more than a rough and ready implement.

Our alphabet seems to have been a local form of the Greek alphabet current in Central Italy about, the sixth century, B.C. The Greeks got their alphabet from Phoenicia, but,where the Phoenicians got it from is a riddle. One theory is that it began a sort of shorthand for Egyptian hieroglyphics, for even in ancient Egypt people must occasionally have wanted to send a note without waiting a month while the artist painted the picture. Time was, of course, of no great value as a general thing in those days, as there was so much of it ahead, but even Rameses II in his numerous campaigns may have chafed a little at a ten days’ pause in a battle while the hieroglyphic battle orders were being drafted for the surprise flanking operation.

A new claimant for the honour of inventing the alphabet is the Stone Age man of France. This sounds a fairer thing than assuming without jutification that the Egyptians did it. In “La Nature” only a month or two ago Dr. A. Morlet describes how tablets and bricks had been found recently at Glozel, in France bearing alphabetic inscriptions. These were found among the remains of Neolithic men, and Dr. Morlet considers that the alphabet was really first invented at Glozel at a time when reindeer inhabited that region, for the remains have rough drawings of reindeer on them. So far, however, the alphabet seems successfully to have resisted all efforts to reform it.

F.P.A., in the New York “World,” quotes an illuminating bit from an American advertising agency’s circular :—

“For those of our organisation who require testimonials or special posing of moving picture players, operatic or theatrical stars, famous athletes, society people, and other famous personalities, there is made available a new service called ‘Famous Names, Inc., Chicago. (Branches in New York City and Hollywood,* Cal.).’ “The fee for the exclusive use of a star is between 150 dollars and 2500 dollars, depending upon the standing of the star and the length of time the exclusive use is desired. This fee includes the special posing and signed endorsements. The rights to use this service are sold on an exclusive basis, which means a definite protection to the advertiser against duplication in picture names and endorsements. The rights are directly assigned to the purchaser, signed by the star, and' assignment is also made by Famous Names, Inc.”

A correspondent asks who was the original of Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has more than once explained that it was at Edinburgh he encountered Dr. Joseph Bell, the prototype of his detective hero: — “I had,” he says, “ample chance of studying bis methods, and of noticing that he often learned more of the patient by a few quick glances than I had done by my questions. Occasional! v the tesults . were very dramatic, though there were times when he blundered. In one of his best cases he said to a civilian patient: ‘Well, my man, you’ve served in the Army?’ “ ‘Aye, sir.’ “Not long discharged?’ " No, sir.’ “ 'A Highland regiment?’ “ Aye, sir.’ "‘A non-com. officer?’ “ ‘Aye, sir,’ “ ‘Stationed at Barbados ?’ “ ‘Ave, sir.’ “ ‘You see, gentlemen,’ he would explain, ‘the man was a respectful man, but did not remove his hat. They do not in the Army, but he would have learned civilian ways had he been long discharged. He has an air of. authority and he is obviously Scottish. As to’ Barbados, his _ complaint _is elephantiasis, which is West Indian, and not British.’ ”

Harriet: “Now that Blank’s' insomnia is cured, what does he bore people with ?” Agatha: “His dreams.”

“Is theirs a happy marriage?” “While company is present ” CREATION. If I had an acre of land— O an acre of land! Within cry of the hills, the high hills, And the sea and the sand, And a brook with its silvery voice— I would dance and rejoice! I would build a small house on my land— So I would, a small home! Within call of the woods, Jthe high woods, Within flight of the foam! And O, I would dig, I would delve, Make a world by myself! O 1 would keep pigs, and some hens, And grow apples and peas: All tilings that would multiply, flowers For my hive of striped bees— If I had an acre of land Life should spring from my hand! —Hamish McLaren, in the London “Spectator.”