gularities
found in every existing tongue, and that shall be simpler than any of
them. It shall have:

"_Third_, a single, unalterable sound for each letter, no silent
letters, no difficult, complex, shaded sounds, but simple primary
sounds, capable of being combined into harmonious words, which latter
shall have but a single stress accent that never shifts.

"_Fourth_, mobility of structure, aptness for the expression of complex
ideas, but in ways that are grammatically simple, and by means of words
that can easily be analysed without a dictionary.

"_Fifth_, it must be capable of being, not merely a literary
language,[245] but a spoken tongue, having a pronunciation that can be
perfectly mastered by adults through the use of manuals, and in the
absence of oral teachers.

"_Finally_, and as a necessary corollary and complement to all of the
above, this international auxiliary language must, to be of general
utility, be exceedingly easy of acquisition by persons of but moderate
education, and hitherto conversant with no language but their own."

Thus the way was prepared for the favourable reception of a new
artificial language, which had in the meanwhile been elaborated. Dr.
Zamenhof, a Russian physician living at Warsaw, had been from youth
occupied with the project of an international language, and in 1887 he
put forth in French his scheme for a new language to be called
Esperanto. The scheme attracted little notice; Volapuek was then at the
zenith of its career, and when it fell, its fall discredited all
attempts at an artificial language. But, like Volapuek, Esperanto found
its great apostle in France. M. Louis de Beaufront brought his high
ability and immense enthusiasm to the work of propaganda, and the
success of Esperanto in the world is attributed in large measure to him.
The extension of Esperanto is now threatening to rival that of Volapuek.
Many years ago Max Mueller, and subsequently Skeat, notwithstanding the
philologist's prejudice in favour of natural languages, expressed their
approval of Esperanto, and many persons of distinction, moving in such
widely remote spheres as Tolstoy and Sir William Ramsay, have since
signified their acceptance and their sympathy. Esperanto Congresses are
regularly held, Esperanto Societies and Esperanto Consulates are
established in many parts of the world, a great number of books and
journals are published in Esperanto, and some of the world's classics
have been tra