a new method of printing, in which the types, instead of answering only to single letters, are made to correspond to whole words.

This method, though seemingly a retrograde procession in the printing art, has lately obtained the sanction of his majesty's patent, and has for some time been actually put in execution in the way of trade, apparently with advantage to the proprietors. In the year 1783, a treatise upon this subject appeared by Henry Johnson, in which the origin as well as the utility of the art are fully laid down, and the matter set forth in such a light as can scarce allow us to doubt that it is an improvement in the art. Mr Johnson informs us, that about five years before, viz. in the year 1778, intending to publish a daily list of blanks and prizes in the lottery numerically arranged, he found it could not be accomplished in time by the ordinary way of printing. On this account he procured types of two, three, or more figures as was necessary for his purpose; and thus any entire number might as readily be taken up as if it had been a single type. His next attempt was in forming some large mercantile tables of pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings. For these he procured types expressive of any sum of money ready composed and united, "by which (says he) every species of figure-printing could be performed for the tenth part of the cost, printers always charging it double the price of letter-printing." Having thus succeeded to his wish in his two first attempts, he next began to consider if the method could not be applied to words; and in this also the success was equal.

The properties of the logographic art, according to our author, are, 1. That the compositor shall have less charged upon his memory than in the common way. 2. It is much less liable to error. 3. The type of each word is as easily laid hold of as that of a single letter. 4. The decomposition is much more readily performed, even by the most novices, than they now decompose letters. 5. No extraordinary expense nor greater number of types is required in the logographic than in the common method of printing.

The first of these positions is proved by our author in the following manner. In the common method, the compositor has 150 divisions to which there is no reference, and the printing offices are not agreed with respect to the mode of placing their boxes; "but under this improvement he has only to know the letters of the alphabet, and is assisted with an index of them, insomuch that the simplicity of the latter apparatus enables him, by a little practice, to lay his finger almost blindfold on the word required; and the meanest capacity is equal to this mental exercise, having little more to do than knowing by inspection the difference between words under three and those above three syllables; and all the apparatus being within a compass not a great deal more extended than common printing, for these reasons he is as soon proficient of his type of a word as they are of a single letter."

Thus the first and third positions may be said to be proved; but in his proof of the second, our author himself shows that his art is not infallible, by substituting the word third instead of second. Substitutions of this kind, he owns, may readily take place; but such errors are much more conspicuous than literal ones, though they may be corrected with equal ease; "for the erroneous substitution cannot fail of being nearly equal in length to the word required; although, even otherwise, it would not be attended with greater disadvantage than in the common way, and it would be rectified with greater facility."

The ease with which the composition is performed, shows that there must be an equal ease in performing the decomposition; "from whence (says Mr Johnson) it is further demonstrable, that any work can be composed by this method nearly as soon as it can be deliberately read; and as to the fifth position, that it shall not require a greater expense of types, it is answered, that it is impossible for more types of letters to be wanted for this method than by any other printer according to the equal quantity of business to be performed, every office having certain known quantities of each letter called a fount. A printer's fount contains about 92,500 letters, and our want is not more; nay, nearer the truth, the present quantity for a fount containing much more of some letters than necessary, and fewer of others; which arises from the calculation of the quantity of each letter wanted being adhered to since the old spelling."

Our author now proceeds to demonstrate that the number of types must necessarily decrease as they are combined in syllables, and much more when formed into words. The whole art of arranging the words consists in placing them under as few divisions as possible, and still fewer subdivisions; which is attained by the following process.

1. A collection of words, with the addition of tenses, plurals, and degrees of comparison, amounting to more than 100,000, was made from the best English dictionaries; 2. Collections were made from the miscellaneous part of newspapers, the Spectator, and Common Prayer-book. The method was, by procuring duplicates of every sheet, so that each alternate side might be pasted over with white paper, in order to leave the whole of the words on both sides perfect; and thus the whole might be touched with less danger of injury than otherwise could have been done. The confusion arising from the parts of other words being seen from the opposite side was likewise prevented.

3. The words, being separately cut out, were then put into a case marked with the divisions from one to 16, according to the number of letters contained in each word. Thus several letters were distinctly collected, and then each separate parcel sorted in a case containing 26 divisions, marked with the letters of the alphabet, according to the commencing letter of the word; and thus all the words were ranged alphabetically, consisting of two, three, four, or five letters, in separate parcels.

4. The same words were then placed together, and posted into an alphabet, with the number of times marked to each that had occurred on the whole; that in this manner a proportion might be determined how many times particular words ought to be repeated for the printing of one sheet, and also to know what words are in general use: There are likewise a number of technical terms, and favourite phrases, a great number of times repeated almost by every author; but though these occur throughout the whole book in great proportion to the rest, no more of them will be necessary than what suffice for a single sheet.

5. The whole of the above might be done without the trouble just mentioned, by posting every word at once into a triformed alphabet; because the subdivisions of the second and third commencing letter of each word for references are now obtained, and thus can easily be placed in its proper division, and may be marked as often as it occurs, without repeating the same word; whence we plainly see the ease and expedition of it, from the facility and expedition of posting every word from a leaf in any book. Before such subdivisions were known, they could only have been placed under the first commencing letter of the word; which would cause such a multiplicity of repetitions, that it would take up more time, be far more liable to error, and require more subordinate postings to bring them into arrangement; so that they may be found more easily than by the above proceedings. Thus also a collection will be obtained of single and double words, which are constantly required from 20 to 400 or 500 times in the printing one sheet of any work whatever; and which alone would abridge the compositor's work near one-third. This second process likewise enabled the author to reject, out of the first collection, obsolete words, technical terms, &c., which reduces the original collection to one-fifth part.

6. By proceeding in this manner, several species of words are omitted in the fonts. 1. Obsolete words; because they occur so seldom, that the difference of time lost in composing them in the ordinary method would be imperceptible. 2. Technical terms, names of places, animals, &c.; though, for any particular work, the terms peculiar to it may be added to the font in a biformal alphabet apart. 3. Real compounds, or words that may be compounded of others, are also rejected; because we actually have the words Logography already, and they may be joined with sufficient expedition, though the spaces are annexed to each, by being constructed accordingly. 4. Those of the same spelling are likewise omitted, though they bear different significations, for obvious reasons.

7. The variation of tenes, degrees of comparison, and numerous words in the English language, having in general, the same terminations, such as ED, INC, LY, MENT,NESS, &c. an alphabet may be formed of such a kind as is capable of being annexed to the absolute words or radices, as expeditiously as the whole word could be found in the font, from its being thereby so much less extended. Thus, by dividing several words into their radices and terminations, many other words may be formed from their radix by the addition of various terminations, and each termination may be added to other radices to which they are applicable.

8. Some radices are imperfect, viz. such as end with the vowel e, which must therefore be added in the usual way of composition. Thus, in the word adore, the radix is ador, to which the terminations es, ed, ef, eth, er, ing, may be added occasionally.

9. By rejecting also the words which come under this last denomination, the number necessary for a font is reduced to one-tenth of what it would otherwise be, as will appear evident from the following considerations:

1. There are at least 42 verbs, the infinitive of which ends in ify; as qualify, signify; the radices of which are qual, sign; the terminations are, ish, ified, ifying, &c. And Mr Johnson informs us, that by applying these radices to other terminations, he was enabled to dispense with more than 500 words which would otherwise have been necessary.

2. For all regular verbs, no more than six terminations are necessary, viz. s, ef, eth, ed, ei, ing. There are but few irregular ones in the English language; whence it happens that 12 or 14 words may be formed from one single perfect verb as a radix, and many imperfect ones save double that number.

10. By using only the set of terminations which may be contained in a box of two feet square, the common operation of printing would be shortened nearly one half; and in order to find out those which are most in use, and fitted to retain, our author digested them alphabetically, with the radices, words, or syllables, which make complete words annexed to them.

Thus,

tain —s —ed —ing —ment

abs—apper—after de—dis—con cer—cap—cur enter—main—re—fus, &c.

11. Thus it will be found, that out of more than 100,000 words of which the English language consists, there will not be wanted much above 3,500 for a complete font. This will be very evident to any person who consults a dictionary. He will there find, that a vast number of words require an explanation; whereas in any miscellaneous work, there are none but what can be understood most readily either together or apart. Newspapers retain more of the uncommon kind of words than any others. "The vocabulary (says our author) Logography or alphabet as it is called, of the Chinese, consists of above 80,000 letters or characters; yet he is admitted a master of the language who knows about 4000 of them, no more being in general use.

The expedition with which the logographic method of printing can be accomplished, depends essentially on their arrangement; which, from great numbers of experiments, our author found to be best accomplished in the following manner: 1. Words of one, two, or three syllables, are alphabetically placed by themselves, including all possible commencing syllables, by which the compositor cannot fail of finding the word either in whole or in part, let it be what it will; and when the whole cannot be found at once, the remainder may easily be found in single or double syllables among the terminations. 2. All words above three syllables have the same alphabetical arrangement; the terminations being the same at the bottom of each. Experience shows, that by a very few lessons, the meanest capacity may determine the number of syllables, and refer to the particular case containing words of that number, there being conspicuous references to each; and by thus equalizing them, any person may possess himself very expeditiously of what he wants. Even boys who scarcely knew more than the letters of the alphabet, were hardly a fortnight employed in this method, when they could at the first glance tell the number of letters contained in any word.

By this simplicity of arrangement, any intelligent person, who never composed in his life, by being placed in a room with the apparatus, could compose and print, without other previous instruction than desiring him to remember that the words under three syllables, and those above three, are placed in separate alphabets; and that whenever he wants a word, the first letter is seen in capitals of two inches on the walls, the second in letters of one inch in right lines; and where it is necessary to have more columns than one for such second letter, the third is given in red down the column, comprehending about 12 divisions, to contain the types of the word coming under such reference.

To exemplify this method as far as it can be done without actually seeing the apparatus, our author instances the two words Above and Unfortunately. In looking for the former, the first letter, A, is seen upon the wall as already mentioned; the second, B, is on the case under it, and down that column is OVE, opposite to the cell containing the types of the whole word; which would be only three references instead of five with spaces, as in the common method. The other word, viz. Unfortunately, may be found by the same references, though it contains 13 letters; but "admitting that practice will give the word as soon as a single letter, the average will be found eight for one."—Our author's explanation of the method in which this word might be composed, however, seems by no means intelligible.—"For this distinction in the cases (says he), the alphabet, or rather marks of first reference in large characters on the wall, is divided into two classes, not as vowels and consonants, but as follows, viz. A, Con, Dif, E, In, O, P, S, Un, commencing references, the second or subsequent letters of the words being in a right line from left to right, and down each column is found the remainder of the reference to the words, distinguishing always the third letter in red. The second distinction is that for all other commencing letters, the second letter of reference is in a column down, and the third letter in lines from left to right in red.

These are the directions given by our author for forming a fount of words; the next requisite is a fount of syllables, formed in the following method: 1. A complete set of two letters was obtained in all their possible combinations, amounting to 676. 2. Having next obtained the possible combination of these letters, viz. 17576, by retaining only all possible syllables, and words of three letters, it is reduced to the 30th part; which answer all the purposes of composing with syllables of two and three letters, for Latin, French, English, and all names of persons, places, and things, every possible syllable being comprehended among them. Hence it forms an universal triformed alphabet, where English characters are used; from whence all partial biformed and triformed alphabets in the arrangement of English, French, Latin, and all technical matters, are drawn. Though combinations of four letters are again 26 times the number of those of three letters, and five letters increase in the same ratio; yet as much as all possible combinations increase in quantity proportionate to the number of letters combined, so they decrease in the actual number of syllables included among them, inasmuch, that all the syllables of four, five, six, and seven letters together, are considerably fewer than the syllables of three letters only.—Besides the two fonts already mentioned, a third was found necessary for such terminations as are most commonly followed by particular punctuations; but, after some consideration, this was judged unnecessary.

Our author now proceeds to obviate some objections which must naturally occur to one who first hears of his invention. These are,

1. A single letter damaged in a word renders the whole useless.

This is not denied by Mr Johnson; but he contends, that the quantity of metal lost in this manner is quite trifling.

2. How are the blanks or spaces in a line to be managed, as these are by no means equal?

To this our author replies, that, at the time of writing the pamphlet, he was undetermined whether it be most eligible to have spaces cast along with the beginnings of words, or to space them in the common manner. The former would be more expeditious; and where a greater distance is required, other spaces may be introduced in the ordinary method.

3. How is a long word at the end of a line to be divided?

This may be easily accomplished by means of the syllabic font already mentioned.

4. How is the error of substituting one word for another to be rectified?

The answer to this is, that an error of the kind specified may be corrected in the very same manner as is done in common printing. Long words may be divided by means of the syllabic font already mentioned, and the intervals between the words may be filled up with spaces as usual.