| OCR Text |
Show 2 OBJECT OP THE PRESENT WORK this pamphlet is addressed, and to whom it will be mailed, is urgently requested. The publication will mainly consist of a collation, in the form of a vocabulary, of all authentic signs, including signals made at a distance, with their description, as also that of any specially associated facial expression, set forth in language intended to be so clear, illustrations being added when necessary, that they can be reproduced by the reader. The descriptions contributed, as also the explanation or conception occurring to or ascertained by the contributors, will be given in their own words, with their own illustrations when furnished or when they can be designed from written descriptions, and always with individual credit as well as responsibility. The signs arranged in the vocabulary will be compared in their order with those of deaf- mutes, with those of foreign tribes of men, whether ancient or modem, and with the suggested radicals of languages, for assistance in which comparisons travelers and scholars are solicited to contribute in the same manner and with the same credit above mentioned. The deductions and generalizations of the editor of the work will be separate from this vocabulary, though based upon it, and some of those expressed in this preliminary paper may be modified on full information, as there is no conscious desire to maintain any preconceived theories. Intelligent criticisms will be gratefully received, considered, and given honorable place. PRACTICAL VALUE OP SIGN- LANGUAGE. The most obvious application of Indian sign- language will for its practical utility depend, to a large extent, upon the correctness of the view submitted by the present writer, in opposition to an opinion generally entertained, that it is not a mere semaphoric repetition of traditional signals, whether or not purely arbitrary in their origin, but is a cultivated art, founded upon principles which can be readily applied by travelers and officials so as to give them much independence of professional interpreters-- a class dangerously deceitful and tricky. Possessing this art, as distinguished from a limited list of memorized motions, they would accomplish for themselves the desire of the Prince of Pontus, who begged of Nero an accomplished pantomimist from the Roman theater, to interpret among his |
