...practically some four or five thousand characters suffice for average needs, and the convenience of "a system enabling those who speak mutually unintelligible idioms...together, using the pencil instead of the tongue," caused the abandonment of an attempt to make nearer approach to an alphabetic system which was promoted...

...elaborate system of pictographs. A system of four to five thousand characters were used for ordinary needs "enabling those who speak mutually unintelligible...together, using the pencil instead of the tongue."' 7 Its effectiveness for this purpose meant the abandonment of an attempt to develop an alphabet system....

...porcelain and metal work, but with a widely diffused knowledge of letters, and a writing system which still remains at the cumbrous ideographic stage, needing...standard, whereas the hieroglyphs, like our ciphers i, 2, 3..., could be read by all educated persons of whatever allied form of speech. Originally the...

...porcelain and metal work, but with a widely diffused knowledge of letters, and a writing system which still remains at the cumbrous ideographic stage, needing...standard, whereas the hieroglyphs, like our ciphers I, 2, 3 . . ., could be read by all educated persons of whatever allied form of speech. Originally...