The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-12-07
CITY INTELLIGENCE.
iron ADDrrIosA1 LOCAL iTT1s SEE OUTSIDE rAors.

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THE NUMIsMATIo AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
OF PHILADRIPHIA.-A stated meeting OF this
Society was held on Thursday evening last, at
its Hall, No. 524 Walnut street, Vice President
Chandler in the chair.
!. number OF donations we're made TO the So
ciety, including one very fine Calcutta rupee,
dated Ammo Hegrp 1884, which was presented
BY Mr., Creighton.
Mr.. Hart Communicated an account of recent
discovery OF Roman gcla coins in Paris.
Mr.. Phillips read an article relative to new
Egy ptlan postage stamps and recent arch@olo-
glcal discoveries in the West.
very interesting original communication
was made by Dr. Daniel G.. Brintop. i'm relation
to the newly discovered alphabetical kew to the
Central American inscriptions at Palendue etc.
He showed clearly the phonetic character of
those inscriptions, and traced the origin of all
writing, which he divided into two classes
''ideoeraphic' and Photographic" =" whichformer
is derived from and is modification aud devel-
opment OF the latter. Words bear two relations:
i. Ideas relating to outside things q Ideas
relating to interior Things.
of the first class is picture writing and can
never represent ideas of absolute things. Pure
picture writing cannot exist without symbols
which are the beginning of ideographic writing
The Egg ptian ideographlc writings are rich in
concrete ideas, bat are unable to express ab-
stract ones. Hence, there are many symbols
for women in their various relations such as
wife, virgin, and widow, mother, ETC., but none
for woman IN the abstract To such an alphabet,
where no ideas are expressed, but only things
the key once lost is gone forever; only general
idea remains from which we can guess at the
meaning. The tIanspositiOn from Geographic
10 phonetic writing, from symbol to sound
occurs for the first time in proper Names which
all had once a meaning outside OF the indi.
vidual who bore them, and had reference to
some external object or quality. For example,
Jones, Johnson; Robertson, Robinson, etc.
The earliest names of which we have record
are compound words. mnemonic sign was
often ADOPTED for portion of the name an
instance whereof is shown in eaIly heracry of
articles taken together and combined like a
rehus. Thus, Bolton arms were cask or
tun pierced by cross'b bar bolt
Similarly in the most ancient alphabets the
names OF the letters were taken from some
word, and with which they began. The case in
Oeham, Hebrew, etc. Thus in Hebrew the letter
A is named Aleph, B is Bet, from Bayit house;
G is Gimel, a camel, etc. M in Gothic is
called man." a word common to that stock
OF languages, and of most frequent occurrence.
DR.. Brnton then proceeded to explain the
new found Maya alphabet. The Maya race was
the most civilized and cultivated race in
America. The ruins of their palaces, etc,
amply prove it. Their language doubtless par
took in some degree OF civilization and of pho.
netlc character Cartonebes found that the
Central American figures bear resemblance in
object to the Egyptian ones. Abbe Brasse de
Bourbony has been able to read several MSS
by means of a Mapa alphabet found in Spa
nish convent. The alphabet consists of twenty
four sounds, mostly cultural, which cannot be
represented IN our tongue An additional
source of trouble in interpreting the inscrip-
tion is the omission OF words and the use of
aroitrary symbols for others, variable at the
will of each writer. -
Mr.. Chandler made some remarks relative to
pictured rocks seen by him in Venezuela.
The Committee on celebrating the tenth ami
versary of the Society reported adversely to any
formal demonsu alton.
The following gentlemen were elected officers
OF the Society for 1867
JreSident- Eli K. Price.
Wee -PresidentS-William S. Vaux, William P
Chandler, William Duane, John Farnum.
Corresponding SecretdYy-H Philips, Jr.
recording SeCTetdTy-Afred B. Taylor.
ITe1sue'-Thomas E. McEIroy.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES II. Hart.
Curator NuniSn1GttcS William j. jerks.
Curator AnttqueS-Daniel G. Brinton, NJ. d.
LibrGrlGn-Willia T. Taylor, NJ. d.
John Evans, Esq, of Nash Mills, Heme(-
Hampstead, England, was elected a foreign cor
responding member of the Society.
On motion the Society adjourned