The Preparation of Manuscripts for the Printer

lead of progressive lexicographers who favor the dropping of all silent letters as redundant. The simpler forms of only twelve words have been adopted by the National Educational Association, These forms are:

This advocacy is slowly bearing fruit, and will no doubt ultimately lead to reducing the language to a phonetic basis, which will materially assist students of orthography, and save both time and money.

The trend toward simplified spelling is noticeable in many American publications. Some publishers adopt special forms of words for their composing-rooms. This tendency has already spread to periodicals even of an educational character, and throughout the United States educators have manifested a keen interest in the subject, many advocating the adoption of simplified spellings in such words as offer least resistance, and in others whose forms in poetry have been simplified to meet the exigencies of rime.

There are few printing-offices or publishinghouses that do not establish a set of rules governing typography and orthography for the

guidance of their compositors. The most comprehensive of these is, perhaps, that adopted by the Funk & Wagnalls Company, which is reproduced below.

TO EDITORS, TYPEWRITERS, COMPOSITORS, AND

PROOF-READERS

Please take notice that hereafter the following rules and spellings are to be used in all the publications of the Funk & Wagnalls Company:

1. The dieresis is to be omitted in all English words-as, zoology, cooperation, etc. In AngloGerman words—that is, German words not thoroughly naturalized in English speech and writing -the umlaut is to be retained.

2. The diphthong is to be omitted in all recognized English words-as, egis, fetus, instead of ægis, fœtus.

Of the various classes of words whose spelling is unsettled, that are affected by the movement for simplified spelling, with which an author should familiarize himself, several are given below, characterized as American and English.

American English American abridgment abridgement bakshish accessory accessary banderole