Being a combination of the principles of Stenography, as
heretofore taught, and of the system of Phonography.
By means of which the English Language may be
reduced to manuscript with fewer Characters,
within a shorter time, and more perfectly
spelled, than by any system of Short
Hand or Phonography now extant.

CLEVELAND:

PRINTED BY SMEAD & COWLES, CENTRAL BUILDINGS.
1846.

NARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY
RECEIVED THROUGH THE
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Jul 6, 1934

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1846, BY E. HARMON & A. H. DAY,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Ohio.

PREFACE.

As the title indicates, the following will be found a com bination of the principles of Short Hand and of Phonography. It has been the design of the author, to retain what is good in Stenography, and to apply the principles of Phonogra phy, so far as is expedient, for the purposes of Short Hand, and to embody a system which shall at the same time secure dispatch and legibility, and be simple and easy of attain ment. How far he has fulfilled these intentions, is submit ted to the literary public. To vindicate the pretensions set forth in the title page, however, we will take for example, Mr. Towndrow's specimen of the Beacon Light. Mr. Towndrow's system is considered, by very high authority, the most perfect of the kind, now before the public. And it will be found, by experiment, that by the principles of the present system, the first verse alone may be abridged of twenty-four characters, and every word spelled as it is pronounced; whilst in the former, many important words are merely hinted at, and, separated from the context, are unintelligible jargon, and the results will not vary much in regard to Phonographic manuscript. By averaging, we will find that the whole specimen can be written with sev enty-two less characters than by the principles of the most approved systems of Short Hand, or Phonography, and in a manner infinitely more legible. As the practical Ste nographer will wish to know something about this systern, without the trouble of examining it in detail, a short com pendium will not be unacceptable.

In the first place, the English alphabet is represented by the usual Stenographic characters. The prefixes and suffixes are also adopted. The vowels and their various sounds, so far as necessary, are expressed somewhat after the manner of Mr. Towndrow. But in addition to this, and what are claimed as peculiar to this system, are the vowel. consonants, and consonant-vowels, which are only a slight variation of the alphabet, so as to be distinguished.

Of these, there are three classes. The first are made to ́express the vowel or consonant necessary in spelling the letter of which it is a modification, either preceding or succeeding it, or both as required. For instance, the vowelconsonant b will express be, eb, sonant vowel o, will express oh,

Occurs.

or ebe, and the consoho, oho, wherever it

ร

The second class of vowel-consonants expresses the vowel o, where the first expresses e, and u, where the first expresses a.

The third class expresses the vowel a, where the second expresses o, and i, where the second expresses the vowel ú. Characters are also appropriated to represent nearly every combination of the consonants, in commencing or ending words or syllables.

น.

The common letters of the alphabet, also, represent a number of familiar words, when standing alone, as in Stenography.'

It will be evident to the judicious observer, if such a system could be rendered practicable, it must surpass either Phonography or Short Hand, for the purposes of reporting. "A more complete orthography can be substituted for the enigmatical code of the Stenographer, without impairing the requisite dispatch, and whilst Phonography will express a single elementary sound, several of these sounds can be expressed and combined by the same character.

4

Of its perfect practicability, I have no doubt. I have made an application of its principles in various ways and have no hesitation in pronouncing it practicable and the most simple and easily understood, of any system of the kind, of the same extent, that has ever been published.

That the public may be enabled to judge of the comparative merits of the present system, and of the difficulties heretofore experienced in adapting a system of Short Hand to the purposes of reporting; extracts from various authors have been selected, together with a short exposition or compendium of Phonography, prepared by Mr. Rice, the editor of the Cleveland American; to which, is added the opinions of eminent writers and distinguished men, upon the importance of Short Hand.

GOULD

"The art of short hand writing, was practiced under diff erent names aud forms, by most of the ancient civilized nations of the earth. The Egyptians, who were at a very early period distinguished for their learning, represented objects, words and ideas, by a species of hieroglyphics, The Jews also used this species of writing, adding a num ber of arbitrary characters, for important, solemn, and aw ful terms, such as God, Jehovah, &c. A similar method was practised by the Greeks, which is said to have been in troduced at Nicolai by Xenophon. The Romans adopted the same method-and Ennius, the poet, invented a new system, by which the Notari recorded the language of their most celebrated orators. He commenced with about 1100 marks of his own invention, to which he afterwards added many more. His plan, as improved by Tyro, was held in high estimation by the Romans. Titus Vespasian was remarkably fond of short hand-he considered it not only convenient and useful, but ranked it among his most inter esting amusements.