Page:Hand-book of Volapük (Sprauge, 1888).djvu/9

Rh The bibliography of the subject (as given at length in "Le Volap&uuml;k," No. 10) comprises 96 books in 13 languages. This does not include articles in periodicals, nor Schleyer's single-sheet compendiums in various languages, nor works merely announced as fortheoming.

Two General Assemblies, or Congresses, of the advocates or Volap&uuml;k, have been held: the first at Friedrichshafen, in August, 1884 ; the second at Munich, in August, 1887. The third is to take place at Paris, probably in August, 1889.

The Congress of 1887 established a three-fold organization: a General Association of the supporters of Volap&uuml;k (Volap&uuml;kaklub Valemik); an Academy of Volap&uuml;k (Kadem Volap&uuml;ka) ; a Central Organ (Volap&uuml;kabled Zenodik). Schleyer's own Weltspracheblatt, published at Constance, was designated as the organ, and its name has been changed accordingly.

Each of these organizations has its officers, Schleyer remaining at the head of the whole movement. The Director of the Academy is Prof. Kerckhoffs; his colleagues number, at present, 17, from various nations: Germany, Austro-Hungary, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Holland, England, the United States, Russia, Syria. The Academy is expected to edit the standard dictionary and grammar, to authorise new words, to adopt any necessary changes, and to give their sanction to approved works of instruction.

The most obvious application of Volap&uuml;k is for international correspondence, especially commercial correspondence, which is numerically the most important. It will require no argument to convince the business world that a common language, if easily learned, and once established, will be an immense facilitation of commerce. This modest claim is all that is necessary to put forth on behalf of Volap&uuml;k at present. If firmly established for this purpose, the extension of its usefulness into the fields of science, diplomacy and literature may safely be left to the future to determine, as well as whether it will ever be used by travelers. It will, in any event, be watched with great interest, and its rise and progress will form a novel and curious chapter of history.