AN END TO THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES.

Waikato Times, Volume 356, Issue VII, 25 August 1874, Page 2

AN END TO THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES.

Who bns not sighed for Ike universal language which shall enable e^ 017 body to understand everybody elee ? Good ol d Bishop Wiikins thought he had solved the problem two hundred je.ira ago, when he elaborated Ins Philosophical Language"; but whoever turns over the huge tome that enshrines the Bishop's civilising idea closes it speedily with the conviction that he «vould rather learn half-a-dozen actual languages than commit to memory the mass of fantastical symbols spread before him. And such must ever be the fate of scheme- which attemgt the impossible task of making human-Kind linguistically symphonetical. A different n.fthocl Inis been worked to a successful issue by Mr Anton | Bachmaior, of Munich, which places within the reach of the comim-h-sense natives of every country m the world the mums <>l communicating with each other with ease and periect certuinty, though each person is perfectly ignorant of ary language save his onn. This wonderful feat is effected by'MrEachmaier by the simple process of numbering the ideas necessary for carrying on correspondence. The numbers are the symbols written, and they express identical idetsin all the linguistic keys; thus 1256 is "money" in the English key. "argent" in the French, "geld" in the German, " lupai" in the Urdu, " penge" in the Danish, &c, &c. A sentence written in these number* may bo penned by an Englishman and read with perfect ease by a Chinaman or a ltussian ; an advertisement couched in these figures will be understood all over the world by people possessed of leys in their own languages. It will be acknowledged that, for commercial purposes, Mr Bachmaire's scheme is of the gieatest possible value, and we have no doubt it will be speedily taken up by practical men and brought into extensire uee. Merchants carrying on business with Asiatic countries, the languogea of which oro co difficult to learn, will be specially grateful for so ready a means of communicating with native agents. Mr Bacbmaier calls his system* Pa«igrophy, and a Pasigraphical Society has been established in London, comprising a large number of learned and philanthropical gentlemen— having Dr Samuel Bircb, of the Butish Museum, at their head— for the purpose of making known in this country the advantages of this now universal interpreter. As an instance of the sort of thing a pasigram is, we give the following as a specimen :—: — ? 5286. 2676. 1635. 3311. 3177. 315. 1610. 376. The meaning of which is, " What is row the price of cotton in Bcmbny ?" Of course it would br quicker to write the sentenco in any pnilicular language ; but t lie advantage of the paeigrnm is, that it is just as intelligible to a Jupanese or Hottentot, provided witk a key in his own langunge, a§ it is tp the original wut r, The number 9! ujenttlconccptions

index* d m tins nay by Mr. B ichmaier is '1334. and thi number far exceeds the necessities of. simplicity of the process makes it universal employment possible by pratical wen of ordinary sense; and ns nothing is required beyond the mata-iel ot typography, the printing press may be inexpnsiTely utnzed in p.igi aphy.