Any full consideration of the question of reformed spelling is hardly in
place in this book. The author may perhaps be permitted one observation.
Innovation in the use of the English language would appear to be primarily
the work of scholars, and the adoption of such innovations would seem to
belong to the book printer rather than to the commercial printer. The
public mind as a whole is conservative. It is not hospitable to changes and
does not soon become aware of them, much less familiar with them. The
commercial printer makes his appeal to the mind of the general public. He
will do well to use a vehicle familiar, intelligible, and acceptable to it.
Correct spelling is mainly a matter of habit and observation. To a certain
extent it is a matter of careful pronunciation, but this is not always a
safe or even a possible guide. The vowels preceding or following the one on
which the primary accent falls, sometimes called obscure vowels, are so
slurringly pronounced that even a pedantic precision will hardly make it
possible to indicate clearly which vowel is used. The writer remembers
seeing an examination paper written by a fourth year medical student in
which the word _fever_ was spelled _fevor_. A moment's thought will show
that so far as pronunciation is concerned the word might be spelled
_fevar_, _fevir_, _fevor_, _fever_, or _fevur_ without any appreciable
difference.
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