who live in the depths of outer space—the master race who populated the whole universe is still literally contained in English; that is, basically, since modern English is as much a bastard tongue of the mother tongue as is Sanskrit.
Therefore, when he gives his "alphabet" with its meanings, he is giving (not wholly accurately he admits, since there is much that he didn't find out about those meanings) the basics of the language of Man (Mantong, he calls it). He is saying that if one knew this master language, one could (with patience) decipher the meaning in any language anywhere; since that language would be derived from the master tongue.
Right there is where Lancelot Hogben will tear out his hair and stomp off muttering about those lunatics, and where those who have read his book, and other books on the subject, will do likewise. But for those of our readers who use the scientific method too, we will present the evidence we have for your inspection, testing, and final discarding (if that is what you do). The scientific method is that method which considers all the evidence, subjects it to proof before acceptance. It also does not reject without disproof. Let's be scientific and be complete; let's apply the disproof test as well as the proof test.
Before we begin, here is the alphabet with its meanings, so that you can compare and follow as we go along:
The foregoing is Mr. Shaver's alphabet exactly as we first published it in January 1944. Your editor believes (and in some instances Shaver admits) that the definitions are not exactly correct or fully complete. We'll try to give our deductions (and they are pure deduction, not any information from a telaug ray) concerning what corrections should be made, and where the definitions lack completeness. We will try to demonstrate this with a few pointed examples.
First, the letter A, the letter H and the letter M.
These, we think, are very much related. A means animal and is expressed (animal, that is) as either A or AN. The letter H is defined as human, and here Mr. Shaver confesses he has some doubt on this one. The letter M means man. ANIMAL-HUMAN-MAN. There's your relationship. But what is the relationship? From a deep study of the Shaver stories, it becomes quite obvious that there is a relationship, and that at the same time there is a definite distinction. How can an animal be a human, and yet not be a man? That question might sum up the reason why a definite breakdown is very much necessary. Here it is, then, and you can use your own research to verify, if you wish not to accept this editor's word for it:
A means animal. It is expressed AN also because it means, animal seed (or child, or spore).
It means animal in the sense that evolution on a planet like earth (and Darwin's theory supports this assumption) eventually results in an "animal" which has evolved far enough to become the "child" or "seed" or "spore" of the human. It is an animal which is not yet a man—in fact is not even a human; but it possesses within it the evolutionary (?) seed of a human being. In short, it could become a human, if, for instance, a Titan did some ray surgery on its genes and chromosomes! (See Shaver!) (See his variforms!)
H means human. It means: you are a man who is a particular kind of man, a human. It is an animal which has become human, or in between an animal and a man. (Mutan Mion was a human, and he became a man [or a Titan] when Vanue gave him her "growth" treatment—which involved certain evolutionary processes.) A human walks the deadly surface of a planet under a sun! He is an "abandondero". (See Shaver!) If he could escape from his deadly world where his sentence is "death" or "poison" which stops or infinitely retards his growth toward full manhood, he could become a man rather than a human! A man lives forever, a human dies!
M means man. It means (from human view
