The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1879-02-20
SYMBOLISM.

u II M Bull M.
Monday ten minutes lecture of Prof Lynes be.
fore body of pupile of Marietta Female College.
Symbols are of three kinds: First,
the Phonetic. in which the symbol
stands for q letter,-as the feather
for A or E, Second, the Emble-
matte, as where a lamb is employ ed
to represent innocence Third, Fig
urative or Pictorial, where it 10 q
re preventative Of the object of itself.
Written language commences with
the last of the forms Of symbols or
the hieroglyphics and terminates with
the first. This ia the order which
Nature has introduced 10 the pro-
gressive formation Of language.
Thus children have great fondness
for pictures for these address them>
selves to the heart, memory, eye,
fancy and are exceedingly signifi
cant.
The third class of symbols is gen,
orally the first employed 10 ell edu
cailonal institutions as an easy and
agreeable method of instruction. 1t
is the royal footpa,h upon which even
genius enters to attain, in the end,
to the heights of science,
Pictures are early text books, so
to speak, Of our race, and to ridicule
them is to treat with censurable in
difference the very keys to knowI
edge. BY pictures, men in all ages,
have been able communicate to con-
temporaries the knowledge Of single
incidents Of isolated facts but here
their usefulness ends, except to de-
light the imagination by reproduce
ton or imitation Of Nature itself in
parts Of its beauty, variety and subs
Unity.
However great the skill or genius
Of an artist, be cannot, by mere pic
lures, ever 20 faithfully executed
transmit to pos,erity knowledge OF
that succession of events, social. civ
il and ecclesiastical which constitutes
history, uor that analysis of the
thoughts, affections and operstions
of the mind which is ct led intellect
uaI philosophy. Hogartb, in his rep
resentation of the "Rske's Progress"
has probably approached nearer to
an epic, or historic sketch than any
other individual Of genius but even
there he pains or portrays only the
ecceu!ricities and idiosyncracies OF
single individual and the moral mus
be- supplied by the readers imsgiDa
ton.
The effect Of 6ne poem, drains
or novel is certainly heightened b.
the sketches Of an accomplished art
iat ~ho, like DOre, employs his pen
Gil ia illustration Of scenery or chaJ.
acter.
The philosophy of picture writing,
regarded as q medium of communi>
eating abstract ideas, rests on Ger
tain relations existing between mat
ter and mind. Thus, it is not sur~
prising that q circle without begins
ming or end naturally suggests to the
mind the idea Of eternity; pair of
balances, that of Justice, an eye iu~
telIigeuce. 1t was natural with the
egyptians to employ the lamb to
represent innocence, the swine vul-
garity, the lion courage, the tiger
ferocily, the dove gentleness, the
owl, which sees 10 the dark, wisdom,
the cat stealthiness, the hawk de-
structiveness, and the eagle soar
log disposition. Thus Nature her
self, by analogy, not only suggest
but aids US 10 representing the
thoughts, operations and affections
of the human soul. We adapt parts
to parts and parts to the whole J.; the
world wi bin and the world without
The norid above and the world be-
meath answers aud correspond to
each o her as face answers to face in
a mirror.
That the iigurative and the em>
bIematic symbol, each the exponent
OF Nature IN all varieties, should ss'
ceud one atep higher, reach the pho
uetic hierogIyphic and supply ~sn
with sn alphabet is equally in the
order of Nature and is, at this day,
one of the unquestiopable facts in the
history of written language.