CENTURY OF INVENTIONS.

33

some curious inventions of his own, tending to itsillustration. But the most accurate notice on thehistory of pasigraphy yet published appeared inthe Sped, du Nord for May, 1798. The anony-mous author of this interesting memoir commencesby a brief inquiry into the nature and utility of theuniversal character, and then proceeds with this veryjust eulogium on our immortal countryman Bacon .

It is generally allowed that Lord Bacon of Ve-rulam comprehended nearly the whole circle ofhuman knowledge at the period in which he lived,and foresaw most of the discoveries which havesince been made. He laid the foundation of anEncyclopaedia , and was very near discovering vari-ous important philosophical results, such as theweight of the air, &c. If we open his book on theprogress of the sciences, we shall find the notionof a pasigraphy in the chapter entitled The Instru-ment of Discourse. “ It is possible to invent suchsigns,” says he, “ for the communication of ourthoughts, that people of different languages may,by this means, understand each other; and thateach may read immediately in his own language, abook which shall be written in another. ” But Bacon did not think of confining this to twelve charac-ters : on the contrary, he requires a great number,at least as many as the number of radical words;on which head he quotes the example of the Chi­ nese ; “ and although,” adds he, “ our alphabetmay appear more commodious than this methodof writing, the thing itself nevertheless is welldeserving of attention. The problem relates tothe signs by which thoughts may be renderedcurrent; and, as money may be struck of otherD