a town of the Prussian monarchy, capital of the Altmark in Saxony, in a fertile valley on the Uchte, near the left bank of the Elbe, 35 miles N. of Magdeburg. It is walled and entered by five gates; and it contains, among other buildings, a fine cathedral of the fifteenth century, four other Protestant churches, a Roman Catholic church, with numerous towers, a gymnasium, and an orphan hospital. Woollen cloth is manufactured here; and there is an active trade in linen. Stendal was at one time the residence of the margraves of Brandenburg. Winckelmann the antiquary was born here. Pop. 7484.
**STENOGRAPHY.** The invention of the stenographic or swift mode of writing, by signs, employed by the Roman notarii in the time of the Caesars, has been assigned by various authors to different persons. Diogenes Laërtius has been made to say that Xenophon first took down the sayings of Socrates in notes; but the original text may mean, that he merely noted down the sayings of Socrates. The Latins, however, claimed for themselves the invention of the Roman Notes. Ennius, about 150 B.C., is said to have invented 1100 common notes, or abbreviations; called common, because intended for general use. Plutarch rejects Ennius, and is in favour of Cicero. Eusebius gives the merit of the invention to Tyro, a freedman of Cicero's; and Seneca ingeniously attributes the invention and the cultivation of this species of writing to freedmen and slaves (as Tyro, Persennius, Aquila), whose performances were, according to the usage of the times, attributed to their patrons.
These notes are constructed on the principle of extreme abbreviation of the letters of the Roman alphabet; for, though every letter of the alphabet is employed, very few words, comparatively, are written in full. Indeed, the characters are so ill adapted for joining, that hundreds of examples are found wherein, apparently to preserve the writing horizontal, the shape, slope, and size of the letters are variously modified, and the letters themselves either disconnected or written across each other. The Roman shorthand alphabet, with a specimen of Tyro's "Notes," written in it, is given in Pitman's *History of Shorthand*, in the *Phonotypic Journal* for 1847.
In this first system of shorthand of which we have any account, all the principles of stenography, as at present practised, were acknowledged; namely, the adoption of simpler forms than the common letters of the alphabet; making each letter the representative of some common word; leaving out such letters as could be spared, particularly the vowels, in order to save time; and sometimes joining or intersecting the initial letters of several words, so as to express them by one series of forms, and, if possible, without removing the hand from the paper or tablet. All that the authors of modern systems have gained in brevity over the ancients has been effected by the adoption of a simpler alphabet. The letters of Tyro's (or perhaps Cicero's) system of shorthand, were made by abridging the Roman alphabet; some of them were, therefore, necessarily complex. Modern stenographers have preferred a new alphabet, made of the simplest geometrical forms; and by sometimes clasping under one sign two sounds that are nearly related to each other (as f and v, s and z), a right line and a curve in various positions, with the occasional addition of a small circle or hook at the commencement, have supplied a sufficient variety of signs for the letters of the alphabet.
By Tyro's system, according to Plutarch, was preserved Cato's oration of Cato relative to the Catilinian conspiracy, speech on his life of Cato the younger, he remarks, "This, is the Catilinian conspiracy, is the only oration of Cato's that is extant. Cicero had selected a number of the swiftest writers, whom he had taught the art of abbreviating words by characters, and had short-placed them in different parts of the senate-house. Before-hand, his consulate they had no shorthand writers." Soon after this, shorthand came into general repute among the Romans, and was patronised and practised by the emperors themselves. Augustus and Titus were proficient in it, and some of the authors of that age allude to the art in their works. Ovid, in speaking of Julius Caesar, who wrote to his friends in shorthand, says, "By these marks, secrets are borne by land and by sea." Some passages in the Latin writers, that have been supposed to refer to shorthand, appear to refer to writing in cipher.
To England belongs the honour of having revived in Early English times the useful art of shorthand writing, no English signal system having been published on the continent that can be compared with the popular English stenographies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
There are four principal periods in the improvement and dissemination of the art since the revival of learning in the fifteenth century. The first period extends from the publication of the first alphabetic system by John Willis, in 1602, to the publication of the matured system of Mason, in 1682. During this period the system most used was that invented by Rich, afterwards practised, amended, and republished by Dr Doddridge. (Before Willis's shorthand alphabet appeared, Timothy Bright, in the reign of Elizabeth, 1588, produced a system of arbitrary shorthand characters that represented words. This, as far as is known, was the first treatise on the art in modern times.) The second period extends from 1682 to the appearance of Taylor's system in 1786, and during this time Mason's system enjoyed the greatest share of the public favour. It was republished by Thomas Gurney, in 1751, and is practised. by his descendants, as reporters to the government, to the present day. The third period reaches from 1786 to 1837, the date of the publication of Pitman's Phonography, or Phonetic shorthand. During this period Taylor's system was perhaps used more than any other; but many persons wrote the systems invented by Byrom (1767), Mayor (1789), and Lewis (1815). The fourth period reaches from 1837 to the present time. In these twenty-three years the practice of Phonetic shorthand has extended to almost every town and every large village in Great Britain and Ireland, and in the United States. This system we now proceed to explain, premising that it is as legible as ordinary writing, and may be written in from one-fourth to one-eighth of the time required for longhand, according to the skill of the writer, and his employment of the principles of abbreviation furnished in the system.
Phonetics (from φωνή, phōnē, voice), the things relating to the voice; the science which treats of the different sounds of the human voice, and their modifications. The style of spelling in accordance with this science is named Phonetic; the common style being called Romanic, because it is formed from an alphabet derived from that which was used by the Romans.
Phonography (from φωνή, voice, and γράφειν, graphē, writing), the art of representing spoken sounds by written signs; also the style of writing in accordance with this art.
Phonotypy (from φωνή, voice, and τύπος, týpos, type), the art of representing sounds by printed characters or types; also the style of printing in accordance with this art.
Phonogram (from γραμμα, gramma, letter), a written letter, or mark, indicating a certain sound, or modification of sound; as, _k_, ah.
Logogram (from λόγος, logos, word), a word-letter; a phonogram, that, for the sake of brevity, represents a word; as _t_, which represents it.
Grammalogue, a letter-word; a word represented by a logogram; as _it_, represented by _i_.
Phraseogram, a combination of shorthand letters representing a phrase or sentence.
Phonography is based upon an analysis of the English spoken language. Its consonants and vowels are arranged so as to show, as far as possible, their mutual relations. In the consonants, _k_ stands first, next _g_; the rest follow in perfectly natural order, first the mute or explosive letters, proceeding from the throat to the lips; then the semivowels, or continuants, in the same order; and lastly the liquids and nasals. Scarcely more than half the consonants are essentially different; the articulations in the pairs _k_ and _g_, _t_ and _d_, _f_ and _v_, &c., are precisely the same, but the sound is, so to speak, light in the first, and heavy in the second letter of each pair. The consonants in each pair are represented by strokes in the same position, and of the same shape, but that chosen for the second is written thick, instead of thin. (See the shorthand signs for _k_, _g_, _t_, _d_, _f_, _v_, &c., in Plate XXXIX.) Thus, not only is the memory not burdened with a multitude of signs, but the mind perceives that a thin stroke corresponds with a light articulation, and a thick stroke with a heavy articulation. _K_, _t_, _p_, _sh_, _s_, _th(in)_, _f_, are called light, or sharp consonants, and _sh_, _s_, _th(in)_, _f_, are further denominated whispered, or breathed consonants; while _g_, _d_, _zh_, _z_, _th(en)_, _v_, are heavy, flat, spoken, or murmured consonants. The distinction is, that in the flat letters (_g_, _d_, _b_, &c.) a vocal murmur is added to the action of the organs by which the sharp letters (_k_, _t_, _p_, &c.) are produced. The light sounds are also called surds, while all the other letters (including _ng_, _n_, _m_, _l_, _r_, _y_, _w_, and the vowels), are called sonants. _Ch_ and _j_ are double consonants, formed by the union of _t_, _sh_, and _d_, _zh_, as may be heard in _fetch_, _cheap_, _edge_, _jem_. They are placed next to the first elements _t_, _d_, which enter into their composition. The vowels are arranged naturally in two series, the first guttural and the second labial. Each series commences with the most open sound. The short vowels are represented by light dots and strokes, and their corresponding long sounds by heavy ones. After a few weeks' practice in writing phonography, the heavy strokes and dots are made without any perceptible effort; they are traced by the pen with as much facility as their corresponding heavy sounds are produced by the organs of speech.
With one exception (_ch_ and the upward _r_, as below), Consonants, every right-line and curve employed in phonography is written in the direction of one of the lines in the annexed diagram, all straight lines and curves in direction 2 and the curves in direction 4 being inclined midway between a perpendicular and horizontal line. (For illustrations of single shorthand letters, see Plate XXXIX.; and for illustrations of joined characters, and the application of the various rules for writing, see Plate XL.)
Perpendicular and sloping letters are written from top to bottom, and horizontal letters from left to right. _L_, when standing alone, is written upward, and _sh_ downward; _t_ and _sh_, joined to other consonants, may be written either upward or downward, as may be convenient.
All the consonants in a word should be written without lifting the pen, the second letter beginning where the first ends, and so on. When a straight consonant is repeated, no break should be made between the two strokes; thus,
When a curved consonant is repeated, the curve should not be written larger, but doubled; thus,
Single consonants, and combinations of consonants that contain not more than one descending stroke, rest upon the line. When two descending letters are joined, the first should be made down to the line, and the second below.
As the straight line in direction 4, in the above diagram, may be written either up or down, it is made to represent two letters, namely, _ch_ when written downward, and _r_ when written upward; this additional sign being given to _r_ for convenience and speed in writing. To diminish the risk of _ch_ and _r_ being mistaken for each other, _/ ch_ is made to slope 60 degrees from the horizontal, and _/ r_ when standing alone, _so_. This line naturally takes these slopes when struck by the hand downward and upward respectively.
On account of their frequent occurrence, _s_ and _z_ are furnished with an additional character, particularly convenient for joining; thus _o s_ or _z_. When the _s_ circle is joined to straight letters, it is written on the upper side of _k_, and on the corresponding side of the other letters. When joined to curved letters, it is written inside the curve. When it occurs between two straight consonants, it is written on the outside angle. When it is joined to _l_ only, the _l_ is written upward; and when it is joined to _sh_ only, the _sh_ is written downward.
There are six simple long vowels in the English language, namely,
1. _ah_, _eh_ (a), _ee_; _au_, _oh_, _oo_; as in _alm_, _ale_, _eel_; _all_, _ope_, _food_.
There are also six short vowels, of the same or similar quality, or tone, heard in the words
1. _pat_, _pet_, _pit_; _not_, _nut_, _foot_.
The long and short sounds of Nos. 4 and 6 are identical in quality; Nos. 2 and 3 are nearly so; the long and short sounds of the pair No. 1 differ considerably in the south of Great Britain, but not much in Scotland: the greatest amount of difference exists in the pair No. 5.
The first three vowels are represented by a dot, and the last three by a short stroke or dash, written at a right angle with the consonant. The dot (for 1, 2, 3), and the dash