7. Use common figures to represent numbers, but make them larger than the other characters, that they may be readily distinguished.
8. The common marks for punctuation may all be used in short hand, except the period, which would be taken for a vowel. But the following distinction is all that is necessary in following a speaker—when a sentence is complete, leave a blank of half an inch, and let each paragraph begin a line.
9. Long words may often be represented by two or three of their leading consonants, or by their initials, when the sense is clear ; and in most long sentences a number of small words may be dropped, without impairing the sense.
10. When a word or sentence is immediately re peated, write it once, and draw a line under it for the repetition. If it be a sentence, and not repeated till something else occur, write a word or two and make the for &c.
Rules to improve Legibility.
1st. As a, I, 0, are the only vowels ever used alone, • a they may be easily distinguished as follows, • i; that is a above, I in the centre, and 0 below, the line of writing.
2d. At the beginning and end of words make use 'a or e of' the same distinctions, •i or y .o or u 3d. To show certain omitted vowels in the middle of words, place a comma over the word as follows, thus : ,for a or e - for i or y 'for o or u •4th. For diphthongal sounds place the comma un der the word, as follows, — for ou; be made and — for oy.
fr I f 5th. In doubtful cases, let q heavier thanl k LgJ Rule for Reading.
When a word is not known at sight, proceed to speak each letter of which it is composed, separately and distinctly, and then pronounce the whole togeth er, as rapidly as possible—thus ; n, v, when pro nounced nv, would give the word envy—n, t, t, pro nounced ntt, would give the word entity—I, d, r, would be elder—f, 1, s, f, r, or flsfr, would be rLadily recognized as philosopher ; and the same of all other words.
REMARK.—The characters of this system are simple and few, and may soon be known at sight, like the letters of our common alphabet, and when thus familiar, the sense of the subject will render the reading sure and easy.
Much might be said on the subject of omissions and contractions, but as these must after all depend more upon the practical experience of the writer than upon any written rules, I shall simply quote from a former edition of the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, from Rees's Cyclopedia, and the EncyClopedia Brittannica, the rules of Byrom and Mayor. Upon this sub
ject Byrom says, " It may be proper to advise the learner, not to embarrass himself with short-hand ab breviations, till by a competent practice of writing, according to the rules already laid down, he is be come so well acquainted with the characters, as to be able to write and read them with nearly as much ease as common long hand. De will then meet with little more difficulty in reading words contracted, than he formerly did in those written more at length, pro vided that the rules of abbreviation be duly attended to. A summary of the principal rules and most prac tical methods of abbreviation is here given, and it is left to the skill and discretion of the writer, by ob serving their nature, and proceeding upon the same principles, to make such other advances and improve ments as his occasion may require." Before I proceed to the rules, I will subjoin another extract. " Lambinet (a French writer), in his ' Re searches upon Printing,' observes, that modern ste nography, which, like the telegraph, dates in France from the foundation of the republic, has neither the inconvenience, nor the obscurity, nor the danger of the ancients. The old characters varied under the hand of the copiers, and the sense changed according to the genius of the interpreters; so that their con tractions are become so many enigmas, because we can refer to no other copies to ascertain the true reading, and because the authors are no longer in ex istence. But," continues the writer, "by the present system of stenography, the writers follow the words of the public orators, take down their speeches, the motions, the debates of the tribune, or the lectures of the professors of the Lyceum, and produce a literal translation at last, in the usual characters and in print." .3 brief Summary of Byrom's Rules of .fibbreviation from the Encyclopedia Brittanica.