r standardization and
systematization.

The most ancient inscriptions and manuscripts are merely strings of
letters, without spacing between words or sentences and without any
points of any sort, like the example on page 1.

The first mark to be used was the dot, or period. Its original purpose
was simply to furnish a resting place for the eye and the mind and so
help a little in the grouping of the letters into words, clauses, and
sentences, which the mind had hitherto been compelled to do unaided. It
was used at the end of a sentence, at the end of a clause, to indicate
abbreviations, to separate crowded words, especially where the sense was
ambiguous (ANICEMAN might be either AN ICE MAN or A NICE MAN), or even
as an aesthetic ornament between the letters of an inscription. In early
manuscripts the period is usually placed high ([Symbol: High Dot])
instead of low (.).

Sometimes a slanting mark (/) or a double dot (: or ..) was used to
indicate the end of an important section of the writing or even of a
sentence.

After a time spaces were introduced to show the grouping of the letters
and the words. At first the sentences were separated by spaces, then the
long words, and finally all words. In some languages, as in Italian,
there are still combinations of long and short words, such as the
combination of the pronoun with the verb, as in _datemi_, give me.

During the manuscript period different schools of copyists and even
different individuals used different marks and different systems of
pointing. For a considerable time the location of the dot indicated its
force. Placed high ([Symbol: High Dot]) it had the force of a period.
Placed in a middle position (.) it had the force of a comma. Placed low
(.) it had the force of a semicolon. The rule, however, was not
universally observed. A Latin manuscript of the seventh century has a
high dot ([Symbol: High Dot]) equivalent to a comma, a semicolon used as
at present, and a dot accompanied by another dot or a dash to indicate
the end of a sentence. A Latin manuscript of the ninth century shows the
comma and an inverted semicolon ([Symbol: Comma above Period]) having a
value between the semicolon and colon. Mediaeval manuscript pointing,
therefore, approximates modern forms in places, but lacks
standardization into recognized systems.

The spread of printing brought new needs into prominence. The early
printers used the period at the end of the sentence, the colon, a