Page:Ralcy H. Bell - The Mystery of Words (1924).pdf/69

 matically and thus endlessly repeated; but they can not be used as words—as parts of speech—until they are defined or given meaning. The definitions of words must be learned. The learning of word-meanings is a process much more complicated than the act of repeating their sounds. The complexity is increased in learning to read, for there is no similarity between the sound of a spoken word and the appearance of one written.

From the vast amount of data available, it may be safely assumed that any normal person of any tribe can be taught to read. Learning to read is a laborious process: it requires acute attention, perseverance of application, and a long series of repetitions in order to identify the letters of a word, and to associate meanings with words separately and in their combinations. The word and its signification—the symbol and the idea—must be simultaneously recognized by the mind through alterations specially made in definite regions of brain substance. This only can