Excerpt from Eclectic Shorthand: Writing by Principles Instead of Arbitrary SignsThis system of shorthand writing has been before the public long enough to either demonstrate or refute the claim that it is the easiest to learn, the simplest in struct ure, the briefest, and yet the fullest phonetic writing of the language thatohas been devised, and it still lives.Its development has been the result of a single seed thought. In 1878, while teaching the alphabet of Taki graphy, I became strongly impressed with the fact that there was no law of motion in the phonographic alphabets, such as in the written Roman alphabet, and set about seeking a more facile and cursive set of characters to represent the alphabet for purposes of shorthand writing.In writing the Roman alphabet, the motion of the pen is upward and downward alternately, except an occasional stroke to the right, which always occurs after an upward stroke. Hence the movement of the hand is only upward, downward, and to the right, and the mental action in writing, after a little practice, becomes very easy.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.