Visible Speech [from Chambers' Journal]

This article details Alexander Bell’s recent experiment to bridge the gap between the appearance of an alphabetical character and its sound. That is, Bell addresses the problem of written language that the shape of a character does not allow one to know that sound it necessitates: there is nothing in the shape of a “b” that allows us to know how to pronounce it. The article chronicles Bell’s presentation to the Society of the Arts in which he demonstrates his new written alphabet. Consisting of thirty characters, the alphabet’s symbols are shapes in such way as to show how the mouth should be formed when pronouncing it. The immediate applications for this new alphabet pertain to telegraphic communication- there being no need for translators- and for the international scientific community- establishing a new franca-lingua.