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means employed for the solution of the problems, I would ask of him to reconsider the exact significance of each separately, so that he may not be inclined to quibble at my methods of solution merely because they may appear to him perhaps too simple. I do this because I am well aware that the majority of mankind feel disposed to bestow their consideration on any subject the more carefully, in proportion, as it is enigmatical and incomprehensible. Such persons, at the sight of so short a grammar, with rules so simple and so readily intelligible, will be ready to regard it with a contemptuous glance, never considering the fact—of which a little further reflection would convince them—that this simplification and bringing of each detail out of its original complicated form into the simplest and easiest conceivable was, in fact, the most insuperable obstacle to be overcome.
The First Difficulty.
The first of the problems was solved in the following manner:—
(1). I simplified the grammar to the utmost, and while, on the one hand, I carried out my object in the spirit of the existing modern languages, in order to make the study as free from difficulties as possible, on the other hand, I did not deprive it of clearness, exactness, and flexibility. My whole grammar can be learned perfectly in one hour. The immense alleviation given to the study of a language by such a grammar must be self-evident to everyone.
(2). I established rules for the formation of new words, and at the same time reduced to a very small compass the list of words absolutely necessary to be learned, without, however, depriving the language of the means of becoming a rich one. On the contrary, thanks to the possibility of forming from one root
