s and the
hieroglyphics were representatives of ideas, though there could be no
pronunciation of them. Letters came into use as representatives merely.
In an age of printing it is hardly correct to say that they are only
used to signify sounds. They are now more than that: they have become
more important than the sounds even. They are now representatives of
ideas, and not of sound. Modifications of pronunciation are taking
place, and there are variations in the pronunciation of many words, but
the word as written and printed is the arbiter.

In the Sanscrit we find the verb _kan_ to see, and the later word _gna_,
to know, as the result of seeing. The words are practically spelled
alike, each beginning with a guttural sound. The latter could only have,
at first, the idea of acquiring or possessing knowledge by sight. It is
evident that the Greek [Greek: gignoscho] and the Latin _gnosco_ came
directly from the Sanscrit _gna_, after the vowel between the guttural
_g_, or _k_ and _n_, had been eliminated; and it is also evident that
the _g_, or guttural sound, with which _gna_ and its Greek and Latin
children began, was vocalized. The other branch of the Aryan family
retained the vowel between the guttural sound and the terminal _n_.
Hence we have the Gothic _kunnan, kaenna_, Anglo-Saxon _cunnan_, German
_kennen_, to examine, to know. Hence, also, our _can_, to know, to be
able; _cunning_, knowing, skilful; and _know_, to perceive, to have
knowledge of. While we pronounce _know_ without the guttural sound, the
word itself and the significance it embodies necessitate the continued
use of the _k_. The sound of _know_, as we use it, gives no idea of
sight or of knowledge or of ability. When we hear it articulated, and we
understand that _know_ is the word meant, we then recognize the sense
intended to be conveyed. We are able to do this because of our ability
to construct and give arbitrary significance to new words, and to
transfer the sense of an old word to one newly formed. When any word is
used in speech of which the pronunciation does not correspond with the
letters with which the word is written, we instinctively image the
written or printed word in the mind, and others apprehend the sense
intended. I am aware of a certain answer that may be made to
this--namely, that illiterate persons are able to understand a word only
from its sound as it falls on their ears; but I am speaking now of a
civilized language as used by a