Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstrai9101882roya).pdf/334

 It is only necessary to say in regard to this, that the Committee was appointed to procure uniformity in spelling, and that their system was only recommended to the Society's contributors for that end, and by no means for the purpose of promoting philological study; and no spelling system can properly be gauged by any test of that kind. It may not be beside the point to remark further that the parent Asiatic Society also published, in the first number of its "Researches" (1784). a system of transliteration by Sir , the general principles of which have more and more recommended themselves to the best judges, whether in Europe or India. It is confidently asserted that the Committee's system followed those principles much more nearly than their critic's system does, both in adopting "a specific symbol for every sound," and in making use of the help of diacritical marks."

It is, of course, impossible to know when the last word on any subject has been said, but it will be a pity if the ingenious but too fantastic suggestions of this latest writer should be hastily taken for the "last word" by any of the general contributors to our Journal. The system settled in 1878 has now been tried for some years and has been found already of practical advantage—chiefly because it has been looked upon as a settled system. 