ABSTRACT
Words are signs of natural facts. In Hot and Cold Bath , Sir John Floyers wanted to find “some strong young mongers of good constitution, who have brushed through misfortunes.” Wordmongering is the most complex and crucial thing the people do, whatever their state or status. Written words substitute for sound. Their great advantage is that they last long after the sound dies. Electronic words, on screens and laptops, vanish into thin air; when printed, or put into books or archives, they endure. Print began slowly over 5,000 years ago with the development of pictographic, ideographic, and hieroglyphic symbols. The basic experience of humanity has been reshaped by the invention of type. Media fantasy has become so realistic, and real technology so fantastic, that what used to be clear dividing lines have either blurred or disappeared.
