Wondering what I could offer to J. L. M. I began to think about the very letters J. L. M.; perhaps I might have something to say about them. Saint Paul would not have the hardihood to call them φαῦλα καὶ πτωχὰστοιχεῖα seeing that they stand for the most forcible personality of our generation in our study of the ancient world.

How did J get its tail? and that phonetic difference from I into which Romance speech has brought such confusion that for every language one must learn separately what value to give it? Once the practical Greek had substituted for the Semitic picture of a hand with its value yod a simple stroke denoting a vowel, all would seem straightforward.