Numerous efforts have been made for two centuries past to found a universal language, but these have all seemed to lack some important particular of success. The most recent attempt in this line is much more promising than any which has preceded it. Volapuk is the invention of the Rev. Dr. Johan Martin Schleyer, of Baden, Germany, an accomplished linguistic student. He can speak and write, it is said, twenty-eight languages. He had been working upon his universal language scheme for some time when in 1879 he announced it, and he had so far perfected the plan of it in 1880 as to publish a pamphlet concerning it. The name is from vola, of the world, and puk, language. It is founded on the model of the Aryan tongues, the signs representing letters and words, not ideas; and all the root words, or nearly all, are taken from living modern tongues, the English being used to a much greater extent than any other language. The Roman alphabet is used, with some German dotted letters, and the continental sounds are given to all letters. All words are phonetically spelled. The Arabic numerals are used, and the names of the numbers are indicated by the use of the vowels in regular order. All plurals are formed in "s." All verbs are regular, and there is only one conjugation.

Tenses are shown by vowels before the verbs; preceding these vowels by "p" gives the passive voice. The perU. I.-5 sonal pronoun placed after the root shows the person. One advantage of this language is that it can be learned very quickly. It is estimated that over 10,000 persons in Europe have mastered it, and it has been tried to some extent in this country also. If it could be adopted in commercial transactions between nations speaking different languages it would, no doubt, prove a very great advantage as well as an economy.