a lad or servant, and the other an under ploughman or the inhabitant of a village. It is from present usage only the meaning of words is to be determined.' To this answer may be added, that phonography will probably accompany phonotypy, and that when words from different languages are written, side by side, in the letters of an alphabet of signs formed on philosophical principles, as those of phonography are, a multitude of derivations will reappear which had been long buried out of sight under the barbarous and fantastic ruins of exploded heterographical spellings.*

"4. A fourth objection may be stated, with its answer, in the words of Dr. Franklin. Your second inconvenience is, "that the distinction between words of different meaning and similar sound would be destroyed." That distinction is already destroyed in pronouncing them; and we rely on the sense alone of the sentence to ascertain which of the several words, similar in sound, we intend. If this is sufficient in the rapidity of discourse, it will be much more so in written sentences, which may be read leisurely, and attended to more particularly, in case of difficulty, than we can attend to a past sentence, while the speaker is hurrying us along with new ones.'

"The existing forms of letters have been retained to represent those sounds which they are found, after an extended numerical analysis, to stand for most frequently in the present alphabet. This fact renders the change in the appearance of phonotypical printing as small as possible, and the difficulty of reading it the least possible; so that any person accustomed to read our language as now printed may at once read phonotypical printing without difficulty, and in an hour or two read it fluently. The advantages following from the adoption of this reformed alphabet will be very great.

"1. It may be acquired in one fifteenth part of the time necessary for the present.t

"2. When acquired, it leads the learner to the correct pronunciation of every word which he meets with.

* This fact, very strikingly proved by writing phonographically words in different languages from the same root, gives satisfactory evidence of the truth of a principle admitted by Archdeacon Hare: "The common pronunciation of a word frequently agrees better than its spelling with its etymology and analogy." † A writer in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal says one twentieth the time. A child has now, instead of the mere alphabet, to learn nearly all the words of the language, as if they were represented by separate hieroglyphics.

"3. It dispenses entirely with the difficult, and to most persons impossible, acquisition of learning to spell. A knowledge of the just sound suggests infallibly the true spelling, and the spelling, with equal certainty, the correct pronunciation.

"4. By the omission of silent letters, it renders reading one fifth part more rapid than at present.

"5. It will render the acquisition of reading and spelling attainable to millions, to whom it is now unattainable.

"6. It will enable a writer to represent any proper name or word of an unknown language in such a manner as to be read by a stranger with precisely the same pronunciation which the writer gives it, inasmuch as variations of sounds are made visible to the eye.

"7. It will tend to banish provincialisms,* as each written word suggests its correct pronunciation.†

"8. By representing the long and short vowels by different letters, it renders possible the adoption of a few perfectly simple and comprehensive rules of accent, a thing which, up to this time, has been nearly wanting in the language."

William S. Sullivant, Esq., communicated to the Academy, through the Corresponding Secretary, a paper entitled, "Contributions to the Bryology and Hepaticology of North Ameri

* Dr. Franklin used to regret that there was not something like a phonotypic dictionary in existence in his day, as it would, he said, have enabled him, when in England, to avoid the peculiarities of American pronunciation.

t In order that it may have this effect, the books printed phonotypically must give the received pronunciation of the best speakers in England. This is a matter of the greatest importance; and America looks to England for a guidance in this respect which may be safely followed. Peculiarities of speech - provincialisms are growing up and strengthening in all parts of our country; and although this cannot probably be prevented for the mass of the people, who learn the language only from the ear, it may for the educated part of the community. Phonotypy offers the means of rendering the pronunciation of well educated people nearly uniform, wherever the language is read and spoken. But in order to do this, it must be under the direction of persons who have, all their lives, been accustomed to hear the language spoken in its purity. Peculiarities of particular districts of the mother country are as much to be avoided as provincialisms or Americanisms. This point has not received the attention it deserves from the editors of the Phonotypic Journal; and it would not be difficult to point out in their pages instances of pronunciation which would, even in New England, be considered as decidedly inaccurate, and sometimes vulgar.

ca," with drawings, illustrating the following species, namely, Phyllogonium Norvegicum, Brid. (recently detected in Ohio); Fissidens minutulus, Sulliv.; F. exiguus, Sulliv.; Schistidium serratum, Hook. & Wils.; Aneura sessilis, Sulliv. ; Marchantia disjuncta, Sulliv.; Notothylas valvata and N. orbicularis, Sulliv.

Dr. Holmes, from the committee appointed at the meeting in March to report upon the case of Henry Safford, the young Vermont mathematician, stated, that, at the request of Professor Peirce, the drawing up of a full report had been deferred until the arrival of the boy in this vicinity, where he is expected to reside. Some interesting statements were made by Professor Peirce, from which it would appear that the mere calculating faculty is not by any means as remarkable in him as it was in Zerah Colburn, but that it is rather incidental, as a part of extraordinary reflective powers.

S. P. Andrews, Esq., of Boston, and George Engelmann, M. D., of St. Louis, Missouri, were elected Fellows of the Academy.

The following were elected Foreign Honorary Members of the Academy, viz. :—

Prof. Louis Agassiz, of Neuchatel, Switzerland.

M. Edouard de Verneuil, of Paris.

M. Joseph Decaisne, Professor at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris.

DONATIONS TO THE LIBRARY,

FROM MAY TO AUGUST, 1846.

Jomard. Seconde Note sur une Pierre gravée trouvée dans un Ancien Tumulus Americain. 8vo. pamph. Paris, 1845. From the Author.

Catalogue of Stars, made under the Direction of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 4to. London, 1845. From the Association.

Address at the Inauguration of the Honorable Edward Everett, as

President of the University in Cambridge. 8vo. pamph. Boston, 1846. From President Everett.

Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Vol. IX. 8vo. Boston, 1846. From the Society.

Mémoires de l'Académie Imperiale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg. 6me Serié. - Sciences Naturelles, Tom. II., livr. 4-6, and Tom. IV., livr. 6. 1838 & 1845. — Sciences Politiques, etc., Tom. IV., livr. 3, and Tom. V., livr. 5, 6. 1838 & 1845. Sciences Mathematiques et

Physiques, Tom. I., livr.

5, 6, Tom. II., livr. 1, 2, and Tom. III., livr. 4-6. 1838 & 1844. From the Imperial Academy.

Mémoires presentés à l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, etc., Tom. III., livr. 1-6. 1837. Tom. IV., livr. 6. 1845. From the Imperial Academy.

Recueil des Actes de la Séance Publique de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, tenue le 29 Déc. 1844. 4to. St. Petersbourg, 1845. From the Imperial Academy.

Dr. S. G. Morton. Observations on the Ethnography and Archæology of the American Aborigines. 8vo. pamph. New Haven, 1846. From the Author.

Fifty-ninth Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York. 8vo. Albany, 1846. From Dr. A. Gray.

Lieutenant Gillis. Astronomical Observations made at the Naval Observatory, Washington. (Congressional Document.) 8vo. Washington, 1846.

Abhandlungen der Math.-Phys., Classen der Koenigl. Bayerschen Akademie der Wissenschaften, München. Vols. XIII., XVI., and XIX. (1837-1845.) 4to. Munich. From the Bavarian Academy.

Bulletin der Koenigl. Bayersch. Akad., etc. No. 1-52, for 1845. No. 1-5, for 1846. 4to. From the Academy.

Gehlehrte Anzeigen. Vols. XVI. - XIX., inclusive. 4to. Munich. From the Bavarian Academy.

Almanach der Koenigl. Bayersch. Akad., etc. 1844, 1845. Munich. From the Academy.

J. P. Von Spix and C. F. P. Von Martius. Reise in Brasilien, etc. 3 vols. 4to. Munich, 1823-31. From Professor Von Martius. Martius. Systema Materia Medicæ Vegetabilis Brasiliensis. 12mo. Leipsic, 1843. From the Author.

Martius. Die Kartoffel Epidemie. 4to. pamph. Munich, 1842. From the Author.

Dr. P. F. Von Walther. Rede zum Andenken an Dr. Ignatz Döllinger. 4to. pamph. Munich, 1841. From Professor Von Martius. Dr. F. Döllinger. Gedachtnissrede auf S. T. Von Sömmering. 4to. pamph. Munich, 1830. From Professor Von Martius.

Dr. F. Lamont. Ueber des Magnetische Observatorium. 4to. pamph. Munich, 1833. From the Author.

Professor J. G. Zuccarini. Ueber die Vegetationsgruppen in Bayern. 4to. pamph. Munich, 1833. From the Author.

Dr. A. Wagner. Andentungen zur Charakteristik des Organischen Lebens. 4to. pamph. Munich, 1845. From the Author.

Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History. New York. Vols. I. — III., and Vol. IV., fasc. 1-7. 1844-46. 8vo. New York. From the Lyceum.

Chart of the Harbour of Annapolis, and Chart of the Harbour of New Bedford. United States Coast Survey, A. D. Bache, Superintendent. From the Treasury Department.

Two hundred and eighty-sixth Meeting.

October 28, 1846.- SPECIAL MEETING.

The Academy met at their Hall, previous to adjourning to King's Chapel to hear the Eulogy of the Hon. Daniel A. White upon their late President.

Messrs. G. B. Emerson, Gould, Greene, and the President, were appointed a committee to arrange the monthly meetings for the coming season.

Two hundred and eighty-seventh Meeting.

November 3, 1846.- MONTHLY MEETING.

The PRESIDENT in the chair.

The thanks of the Academy were voted to the Hon. Daniel A. White, for his able, discriminating, and faithful delineation of the character of our late admired and much lamented President, and that a copy of the discourse be requested for the press.