6.

b being of the same shape as the figure 6, I took b for F for for the same reason.

I took for 8 the letters h and j, as eight, h, j all sound alike, and no other letter remained available. q is the same shape as 9, consequently the easiest letter to remind us of it. I took 1 for 0, because the written capital L has two circles. The only letter available for 4 is r. There is some slight resemblance between the written r and four; moreover, r happens to be the last consonant in the word "four" in most of the European languages: e.g., vier in German, quatuor in Latin, quatre in French, cuatro in Spanish, quadro in Italian, stiri in Slavonic, etc.

Now, if you have paid one moment's attention to the point of comparison between the 10 figures and the corresponding letters, one will remind you of the other without difficulty. In order to get all the letters, or at least all the consonants, of the alphabet into our scheme, I have arranged them again according to the principle of taking similar things together. In comparing languages we find sometimes the same word in a great number of them, changed slightly here and there; e.g., the word mother is mater in Latin, meter in Greek, mutter in German, madre in Italian, matar in Sanscrit, etc; all those words are the same, with slight changes. The tin Latin and Greek is th in English, tt in German, d in Italian, etc.; but I need not point out that t, th, tt, etc., are virtually all the same letter. In order to have words of several languages, which we may know, at our disposal, I take all the consonants which sound

8

= h, j, soft g (in general), ch (in child). 9q, k, hard c (in coal), hard g (in gale). 0 = 1.

With this every word reminds us of as many units as we hear consonants.

As I make use of this alphabet rot to form words, but to find points of remembrance in the facts themselves, any other alphabet would do for the purpose, but you will find this one very easy. Do not take the letters written, but the sound heard; leave out those letters which are not pronounced-e.g., the figures in the word knight would be 21, as I hear neither the k nor the gh.

In order to be able to read easily the figures in a

* Thus in Latin, "pax" stands for pacs, genitive pacis; “lex" stands for legs, genitive "legis."

word, take half a dozen words and find the figures in them.

Now, as every word reminds us of as many units as we hear consonants, it is possible to find some dates in the facts themselves. In order to be able to find as many as possible in them, we must try to have as few figures as possible to find. You will see that for all practical purposes it will be sufficient to find three units only, which, should there be more figures, will suffice to remind you of the rest.*

We have four figures in dates from 1000 upward, but we can easily dispense with the figure one, as a mistake of 1000 years is scarcely possible if the slightest attention is paid. Consequently we shall never require more than three figures for a date; e.g., the beginning of the Wars of the two Roses in England, 1455, we drop the 1. If we can find 455, or the letters which remind us of these figures, in the fact itself, we will have nothing to remember instead of the date. Now three letters, r s s, are found in roses; consequently you cannot forget the date and have nothing to remember instead, as the fact itself gives you the date.t

Charles the First of England assembled his long parliament in 1640..640, p-r-l..you find the date in parliament.

* Should you be unable to find the required figures together in one word, take several words and take the initial letter in each.

For the close of the war, 1485, nothing is necessary, as it lasted thirty years and may be compared with the well-known Thirty Years' War between Austria and Germany, 1618-1648.

The massacre of the Protestants in Ireland, 1641.. 641, p-r-t..you find in Protestants.

This is the way to apply my alphabet (or any other) to numbers. Find as many as you can in the facts themselves, and take those you have found as startingpoints of comparison for others.

I will come back to dates later on, but I will now show you that much larger numbers than dates become very easy, if we do not try to find every figure, but only as many as are actually necessary to remind us of the rest; e.g., in statistics the number of inhabitants of Europe is about 385,000,000. If we can find the three figures 385 in anything of which Europe will remind us, we will have the previous condition, viz., two ideas between which the connection is obvious.

Majesties gives the number. As Europe is the only continent which has kings and emperors of any consequence, this will not be difficult.

Asia has about 825,000,000-8-2-5 ch..n...s, Chinese, millions of course; consequently three figures are quite sufficient.

Africa, 146, t-r-p, Tripoli or Tropics.
America, 127, t..n..w, The New World.

The United States, 74,200,000, 742..Franklin. Russia in Europe, 84,000,000, ch..r, czar (pronounced char).

Germany, 52,500,000, s..n..c, Science. This gives us 525, but we cannot read 525,000,000, because we have the whole of Furope with 385,000,000; therefore it must be 52,500,000.

France, 38,000,000, m..j, Limoges (L is "0," and therefore does not count. The s is not sounded.

Austria, 42,000,000, R...n. Lorraine (HapsburgLorraine, the imperial house).

England, 29,000,000, n..g...1, England.
Ireland, 4,800,000, r-sh, Irish.

Of course 48,000,000 is out of the question; therefore 4,800,000. Before emigration had depopulated Ireland to a great extent, there were 6,100,000; then p..t or Pat gave us the requisite number. Scotland, 4,900,000, r..g..l, Argyll. Spain, 15,600,000, t..s..p, The Spaniards. Italy, 30,200,000, m..1..n, Milan.

Hungary, 12,600,000, d..n..b, Danube.

Ottoman Empire in Europe and Asia, 35,000,000, m..s..1, Moslem or Mussulman.

Norway and Sweden, 5,920,000, s..k..n, Scandinavia.

Portugal, 4,280,000, r..n..j, oranges.

Holland, 4,140,000, 414, r..t..r, Rotterdam.
Belgium, 6,080,000, 608, b..l..j, Belgium.

Switzerland, 3,210,000,321, m..n..t, Mountains.
British India, 151,000,000, 151, t s-t, the East Indies.
China, about 421,000,000, orient.

Japan, 39,100,000, m..k..d, Mikado.

Egypt, 5,500,000, s..z, Suez.

Canada, 5,100,000, s..t..1, St. Lawrence.

Australia, 5,120,000, s..d..n, Sydney.

In order to remember all these figures we have only to pay one moment's attention to two ideas, the connection between which is obvious. To know how many