published in Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, established in 1803 and but recently discontinued. For many years the proceedings for each session filled from five to twelve volumes. The staff consisted of six or seven stenographers, who were regularly employed, and frequently as many more were engaged for additional work.

In 1887 it was stated that nine systems of shorthand were represented in the gallery of the House of Commons, Pitman's, Taylor's, and Gurney's being principally used and in the order specified. Of the official reporters (who report committees, but not proceedings of Parlianient itself) all, except one, employed the system of Gurney, and of the shorthand clerks twelve used Gurney's, four Pitman's, and one Taylor's system. Transcripts have been made by shorthand clerks, to whom the stenographer's notes are sent every half hour and who dictate to two longhand writers at the same time, thus producing copy at the rate of about twenty-eight hundred words an hour. These shorthand clerks read with wonderful facility, and often, Mr. Gurney-Angus states, better than the shorthand writers who take the reports.

There are (with possibly one or two exceptions) no official court reporters in England who are sworn as in the United States to take verbatim notes of evidence, etc., and are recognized as court officers, and, while the reporting of trials is common, this is done under instructions of counsel, each contestant in important cases employing a shorthand writer. The judges' notes of evidence constitute the record in cases of appeal, but as a matter of fact stenographers' transcripts are generally accepted by the courts where questions as to testimony submitted arise. Official court stenographers are employed in some of the provinces of Great Britain and to some extent in Scotland, as well as in the United States, but are almost unknown in Europe.

Mr. Isaac Pitman, the inventor of phonography, has furnished the following statement in reference to the use of his system in England:

The conservatism and innate distrust of change, which is inherent in the English character, has for some time militated against a general diffusion of a knowledge of shorthand. Once convinced, however, of the desirability of change, the rapidity with which means are found to meet the altered conditions is scarcely less remarkable than the resistance with which the change was previously met.

At the time (1884) when the former circular of information was compiled, Isaac Pitman's phonography was taught in comparatively few schools beyond the special business colleges or schools of shorthand established in some of the larger towns. Now it can be fairly stated that in no country in the world are the facilities for learning it so widespread or so far-reaching as in Great Britain. From the highclass foundation schools, such as Rugby, Malvern, etc., to the humble board school evening class, where the fees are merely nominal or the tuition possibly free, there is a chain of educational institutions which afford everyone an opportunity of easily and cheaply acquiring a knowledge of this time-saving art.

The Jubilee of Phonography and the Tercentenary of Shorthand, held in the autumn of 1887, had a wonderfully stimulating effect on the study of phonography. The numerous press notices and articles which appeared, by calling public attention to the subject, brought about what might be termed a phonographic revival.

The system in by far the most general use is that of Mr. Isaac Pitman, and from the statistics of reporters it will be seen that it is used by 93 per cent. Were the figures taken on larger numbers it would probably be found that this percentage would be increased to 97 or 98 per cent. A large proportion (4 per cent) of the reporters in the London press agencies were taught Taylor and Gurney before the advent of phonography, while in the provinces the majority of reporters have learned shorthand since the publication of phonography. From a census of reporters using it on the Australian press it appears that the proportion of Pitman writers is 96 per cent.

Phonography is a subject for examination with the following bodies: The Society of Arts, the Lancashire and Cheshire Union of Institutes, the Yorkshire Union of Institutes, etc., and next to bookkeeping forms the favorite study.

Isaac Pitman's system of phonography has been adapted to French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Welsh, Hindoo, and Malagasy. Including the numerous modifications of it, which may properly be termed Pitmanic systems, it is doing nine-tenths of the reporting, correspondence, etc.;, of the English-speaking world.

Under the new education code of 1890, shorthand forms one of the fifteen "specific subjects," any two of which can be taken by the scholars in Standards V, VI, VII, in any of the 20,000 board schools scattered over Great Britain. A grant of 4 shillings per head per annum is given, and the study is spread over a period of three years. In practice the time is not so long, as the greater part of the scholars leave before the completion of the three years. Grants are also given in boardschool evening classes of 2 shillings per head. These evening classes are a continuation scheme of education for scholars who have left the board-school day classes. The technical instruction act of 1889 provided for instruction in commercial subjects, including shorthand, but very few towns availed themselves of its provisions, as there was no contribution from the Imperial treasury in aid of local effort. Now, however, grants are given in addition to the local sums expended, and Sheffield, one of the first towns to avail itself of the provisions of the technical instruction act, included phonography as a form of instruction required in that district.

Notwithstanding the fact that phonography has not hitherto been assisted by grants, the number of scholars who have taken up the study in board schools is considerable. Statistics show that in London 1,009 boys and 42 girls are being taught Isaac Pitman's shorthand under the board; and in the provinces 2,932 boys and 147 girls; making a total for Great Britain of 4,130. These figures must not be taken as including all that are learning. A teacher in Manchester, where nearly 1,000 boardschool children are instructed in this subject, states that the number given in his return is "irrespective of the large number attending the elementary evening classes of the board."

Statistics have been compiled of the numbers learning phonography in Great Britain, but as the figures have been collected for the first time, and no effort has been made to include those receiving private instruction, they are necessarily incomplete. The returns show that 34,739 males and 3,028 females, making a total of 37,767, were under instruction in February, 1890. These students were taught in 1,260 colleges, schools, institutions, and private classes by 875 teachers, 111 of whom teach in London. The number being taught for the whole of last year was 44,730. As the members of the Phonetic Society, which yearly receives an addition to its number of 4,700 members, correct the exercises of pupils free of charge, very many persons learn privately, and no attempt has been made to include these in the above figures. Were it possible to include all those who are learning phonography there is little doubt that it would very nearly approach the number who buy "The Phonographic Teacher," of which 150,000 copies are purchased every year.

The literature of Isaac Pitman's phonography is extensive, the number of works now published (instruction books and shorthand reading books) being 84. If all that have been issued since the commencement were reckoned, many of which are

out of print, the total would exceed 150. Among the works printed entirely in phonography may be mentioned Esops Fables, Bacon's Essays, The Bible (lithographed three times and now being reprinted), Blackie's Self-Culture, The Book of Common Prayer, Paul Clifford, John Bunyan, The Church Service, The Ancient Mariner, The Poetical Works of Cowper, John Halifax, Pickwick Papers, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, the Vicar of Wakefield, Gray's Elegy, Little Things of Nature, by L. H. Grindon; Tom Brown's School Days, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rasselas, Macaulay's Biographies, Macaulay's Essays, Milton's Paradise Lost, Scott's Waverly and Ivanhoe, Heaven and its Wonders, by Emanuel Swedenborg; Gulliver's Travels, Thankful Blossom, by Bret Harte; The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Tales and Sketches, Gleanings from Popular Authors, Leaves from the Note Book of T. A. Reed, Representative British Orations, and numerous smaller works. Of the Phonographic Teacher 1,370,000 have been issued, and of the Manual 650,000. Large quantities of these books go to the colonies and to America, and as Mr. Pitman has recently established a branch of his publishing business in New York, in all probability an increasing number will go to America. Two weekly periodicals are published, the "Phonetic Journal" having a circulation of 25,000; and seven monthly shorthand magazines.

From a census taken of the principal London and provincial papers and news agencies, and based on 607 journalists, Isaac Pitman's system of shorthand was used by 569 of these; that is, by 93 per cent.

Certificates are granted by Mr. Pitman for speed, for theoretical knowledge of the system, and also for a knowledge of the Teacher. These speed certificates, granted through shorthand associations, form a valuable means of gauging a student's knowledge of the art. With a view of stimulating the study of phonography, Mr. Pitman offers annually gold, silver, and bronze medals for proficiency in writing, which are granted through the various phonographic associations. A phonographic society is in course of formation to embrace all the provincial and metropolitan associations, to constitute a central body to promote the interests of phonography and to raise the status of its practitioners.

Mr. Pitman has recently erected some new premises for the production of his phonographic literature. The building covers a quarter of an acre; the number of hands employed is over 50, and the weekly output of phonographic matter weighs about 2 tons.

The Phonetic Journal for June 6, 1891, contains statistics of instruction in phonography for the year 1890. Returns were received from 793 teachers, giving instruction, at the date of the return, in 1,520 schools and classes to 46,428 persons, of whom 4,741 were females. The total number for the year was 55,558, an increase of 11,828 upon the figures of 1889. In the board schools of London 2,551 boys and 920 girls were taught phonography, while in the provinces the students consisted of 5,592 boys and 873 girls, an increase for the year in the schools last mentioned of upward of 150 per cent.

J. M. Sloan states that since the issue of the Sloan-Duployan Instructor in December, 1882, 230,000 have been sold, and that his system is taught in more than 600 schools and colleges.

FINLAND.-Lient. August Fabritius, of Helsingfors, has furnished the following statement:

The system of Gabelsberger, which was translated into the Swedish language about 1860, was during the course of the next few years adapted to the Finnish by Svan, and since that time stenography has been employed in the parliamentary

service in Swedish, in the two chambers of nobility and cities, and in the two other chambers of the clergy and peasantry both the Swedish and Finnish languages are used. The shorthand notes are transcribed by women, who have acquired great skill in reading shorthand and who use typewriters. The salaries of the parliamentary stenographers range from $260 per month for the chiefs of bureaus to $40 for the youngest apprentices. There are three shorthand associations, one in Helsingfors with about 200 members, one in Åbo and one in Borgå. Instruction in the art has been given in the normal school at Helsingfors and at the Swedish school for boys and girls in the same place. Private instruction has also been given in Björneborg, Borgå, Helsingfors, Tammerfors, Tavastehus, Uleåborg, Wasa, and Åbo. For disseminating the art two monthly journals are published, one in Swedish, called Tidning för Stenografi, and one in Finnish entitled Pikakirjoituslehti. The art is extensively used by students in making notes of lectures delivered by the professors at the University of Helsingfors, which are frequently transcribed on typewriters, lithographed, and offered for sale.

FRANCE. In 1651 Jacques Cossard published the first method of shorthand in France. Thirty years later Charles Aloysius Ramsay published his Tachéographie in French and Latin. Coulon de Thévenot issued a shorthand method of his own invention in 1778, editions of which were printed in 1779, 1782, 1794, 1802, and 1827. Bertin adapted the English method of Taylor to the French language in 1792, and several editions of his work were printed. Conen de Prépéan and Prévost issued modifications of the Bertin system, the first in 1809, the other in 1828. Several stenographic methods are now used in the French Parliament. The proceedings in each house are reported by a corps of 13 stenographers, 6 revisers, a sous chef, and a chef. The "rouleurs" take notes for two minutes only each, while the "réviseurs" write for fifteen minutes each. L'Institut Sténographique des Deux Mondes is reported to have over 3,000 members and there are 40 other societies devoted to the propagation of the Duployan system. The followers of the Prévost-Delaunay and Grosselin methods have one society each, while there are two societies to disseminate the Aimé-Paris style. Stolze's stenography, adapted by Michaelis, is used to a limited extent. Dr. Weber states that there are 3,000 elementary schools in France in which the method of Duployé is taught. The Association Professionelle des Sténographes Français was organized in 1890, having for its objects the examination and certification of competent stenographers and the general interests of the profession. Monsieur Grosselin, chief of the stenographic service in the Chamber of Deputies, is the president.

M. Joseph Depoin, stenographer of the Chamber of Deputies and president of the Institut Sténographique des Deux Mondes, states that 14 editions of Duployé's system have been issued. The publications of the institute (organized July 18, 1872) number nearly 400 volumes, many languages being represented. M. Duployé has taught shorthand in the Superior Normal School, the Polytechnic School, the Military School of St. Cyr, etc. "Le Sténographe" has been issued every week since its appearance in 1869; it is now called "Le Journal des Sténographes." Since the year mentioned 120 Duployan shorthand magazines have

appeared, the oldest being "La Lumière," formerly "La Dictée" (1871), "Le Progrès" (1876), "La Gazette" (1877), "Le Telephone" (1880), and "L'Eclair" (1886). The Stenographic Institute has issued 3,600 certificates to persons who have proved themselves possessed of a correct knowledge of the art, and 250 diplomas have been granted since 1872 to those who have demonstrated their ability to write 100 words or more per minute.

GERMANY.-The earliest shorthand method published in Germany. (1679) was an adaptation of the English system of Shelton. Taylor's shorthand was adapted to the German language by Mosengeil and Horstig in 1796 and 1797 respectively. The two leading systems of stenography to-day are those of Gabelsberger and Stolze. The method of Franz Xavier Gabelsberger, secretary of the Bavarian ministry, was not published until 1834, after it had been practiced for seventeen years. His characters are formed from the ordinary longhand script instead of geometric signs. Henry August Wilhelm Stolze published his system in 1841. It is based upon that of Gabelsberger, and some of the alphabetic characters are the same. The system of Leopold Frederick Arends was first published in 1850, and an improved edition appeared in 1860. The assertion that its basis was the French method of Fayet has been vigorously denied, but there are many points of similarity. Roller's stenography and Lehmann's steno-tachygraphy are modifications of the Arends system. The system of Stolze has been published in three different styles, known as the old, the intermediate, and the new Stolze, while further efforts to alter it have been made by Velten, Merkes, and others. Gabelsberger's stenography has been modified by Faulmann and Schrey. Besides these, many other systems have been printed, those issued by Brauns, Friedrich, Herzog, Kluge, and Vogel being perhaps the most noteworthy.

Dr. Zeibig gives the following figures with reference to Gabelsberger's system for the year ended June 30, 1889: There were at that time 703 societies, with 18,470 regular members, of which 547 societies were in the German Empire, their membership being 13,375. In AustriaHungary there were 101 societies, having 3,586 regular members; in Switzerland, 9 societies, with 165 members; Italy, 17 societies, with 560 members; Denmark, 1 society, with 52 members; Sweden, 18 societies, with 269 members; Norway, 1 society, with 26 members; Finland, 3 societies, with 246 members; Bulgaria, 1 society, with 21 members; England, 1 society, with 20 members; France, 1 society, with 12 members; United States, 3 societies, with 138 members. The number of persons instructed in Gabelsberger's shorthand during that year was 26,650 in schools, 11,867 out of schools. Of these 19,522 were in the German Empire, 17,414 in Austria-Hungary, 141 in Switzerland, 677 in Italy, 193 in Denmark, 103 in Sweden, 69 in Finland, 13 in Norway, 230 in Bulgaria, 15 in Turkey, 11 in Greece, 10 in France, and 105 in the United States. The Italian school of Gabelsberger-Noë has 19 societies, 17 of which, with 560 members, are in Italy and 2 in Austria.