, 1877-07-05

On Monday, the Ncv. Isaac TAYLOR read pa.
per bcforc the Victoria Institute, III tho Theatre
Of the Society of 'Arts, oil tho "Hlstary OF
Nphabcts." The attendance was largo. Tho Rev.
t. Thurnlun, D. D., onu Of the Vicc-rrosfdents.
psos1s1csI. Mr.. Taylor said tho history Of tho
hipl.alct Ind been FIRST ascerta!nrl within tho
last few years " The Int vlsconte 10 Rouge
Professor Of The Egyptian language aud ll.ers-
ture iu tho College, do France LII had traced
our 1ettcsa 10 tho htcroglyphlcs, through tho
tferatIc, Or cursive form of writing them, cs-
peeially rs found In what had been called "the
o,1est book in the worl1,h - the famous Priste
Deeckc. Of strashurg, to dcjuce tho alphal,cti-
cal chara,tcrs ffoul the Assyrtan cuneilorm
writing, ha4 not shaken Mr. Taylor'a fa!tt,
Il ns sn,to kouecs great, dtsGexcry tha.
tts origin. and is tho oldest EXISTING
uionumcht Of human ctvillzation,-bcIng ultlcr
than even the Pyramids. Ti'oss who brought II
from Egypt and aprcml It over tho world, A(r.
tng It for Bill years, were attcrxar,Is driven
thence BY Anasta, tho dttt Pharaoh Of tho
great eighteenth dynasty, The nykahos ,weEo
Indebted ior those two great blessings, tho
ulpl,ahet and the Bible. There were three
staEcs in tho invcntioti OF thc alphabet: !.
lueoEralns-p!eturcs OF thincr. 2. rhonogra,ns
y
tess Of the alphnbct. The lccturcr gave yarioua
illustrations Of ldeoerans and phonograms from
The Chinese ant, Egyptian writing, and planned
tl,c nature Of The Egyptian system ot pho
brief account Of the syllable writing
OF tho Chinese, mud by tho Cypriotea out ot tho
ct,noifor1a, be went On to explain Do Rouge's
sc1ccted twenty-five letters out Of tho 400
Egypttan hiero{lyphles, and thus turned tlat
ilrSt alphatot whicn tas been The parcnt Of all
tho alphalets Of the world. THIS wus illustEat-
hgt0glylhle iorns to tbs hlcrutc lofms In tic
.' PapvFus rr1ssc." which was older than Abra-
ham, and explaining how tho alphabet on the
Moabte stonc. aud that on the tomb OF Eeh-
hicratlc ot tho PapXrua Prisse." The lcctur-
Phun'clsn letters, Ut the curly Greek, Etruscan,
and Lat,n a'plabsts' beginning H. With tle letters
| simhu], iu Nutts, By Greek 1nenvt.asics In the
service Of PsammttFhus, u, Z, 6tE Dc thcn
showed how tho modern written aud printed
alphabct had arisen out OF the Itonian lctterr,
! on tbs spread Ut alphahets By tlu threo
chrt.tlantty, aud Maho'nstanista; showing !
how buddhtsm had spread the Anka alphabet
Ncstortan schlsm had earrIel Que foEm Of tho
] Syri2c alphabet over tho platns VI Central Asta
u the Wall Of China; and how the rtse ol Islzn
'had cauaed another local syrtae slplabct, that
l. lib. Pera4an, Iundustaui, aod Aadcyassce lor11s
of writing. lie went on 10 axpisiu thu caustA
of aiphaietle chaneu: ~ Thoss due IL tic na-
turc OF writing Mate11als-cisY, stone, papyrus.
/ pazthnsut, pa1lu leaves; Gs1 tndolcNe Iii writ.
King; (s} need OF legidlty. lie showed ia detail
slnw certain Ictters had been modified tn form
Efby the influence of thtsa CAUSES. lie then
txsf}. h. nt,n Is.sJ
slpllabctB, and concluded By showing thnt III
Tho Arabic numerals l., ,, 8, 1, IL, xe haya still
ia daily use, iu uost archaic 5os1n, tho, first
tca letters Of To primitive sssoilc alphabst; :,
.are nothing hut tho letter. Il, +. Z, and 4. The
lecture was Illustrated by many carcfuly-e1p-
.caltal diagrams, and Has iolvvSa by Au later
cbtinA discussion.