The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-05-06

any age Of the world have done without
II? h. y ask With writing, In its va
rioua H. nds Il Ia much the same. 1t Is
hard 20 imagine a time when this art so
familiar to us and daily practiced by all
Of us was not known, and not In common
use, as now IL is. And. In fact. says the
Chicago Chronicle, there never was time
since, at any rate, the first giimmerings
OF history, when writing in some form
was not practiced. Even at period when
gods and not men. were the subjects Of
history, writing had been done. The
Egyptians had picture writing. the
knowledge OF which In their belief. camo
from the god Thoth. The Greeks had a
similar writing which they ascribed to
Cadmus or Mercury. The Scandinavians
had theirs from Odin. The Chinese knew
the use of biography and hieroglyphics.
some scholars say, 1900 years before
Christ The AssyrIans and some other
nations very early recorded their
thoughts and actions by means OF cunei-
form inscriptions. They were, too. some
have professed TO be able to prove, ac-
quaintod long before any other people
with the quill pen. According TO these, at
time when the Greeks and Romans. with
steel or bone pen. called stylus. were writ
ms on wax. the Assyrians we're dipping
quilts In staining fluid OF some kind and
setting down their thoughts on some kind
OF paper.
Ancient Cuneatic writing.
In the Latin cuneus Is a word sienifying
a wedge Hence the English word cunel-
form. the literal meaning of which Is
wcdge-shaped and has reference 10 the
characters employed In that kind Of writ
ms The shape OF every elemental char
acter Is that of a wedge. but the size
varies. and thus various signihcations are
obtained Some II them ara expanded
and look like hawk dying; some are like
srrowheads, and others nearly describe a
triangle They are OF different degrees Of
hlnu,ness. and II Il can he said that all
together they make up an alphabet. u Is
very crude one and unmanageable cx-
cep; by scholars who have given great at
tention to tho study Of Il. One has TO un-
derstand all the different combinations
and arrangements 0f these characters and
be able 10 attach or rather 20 derive, right
meanings which. considering the an
uquity ~ cuneiform inscriptions, is cx-
tremely difficult 70 do. The inscriptions
are found upon rocks. stone slabs and
monuments on vases, gems seals and
upon bricks and small cylinders or ptisms
made of clay and TAXED IN the sun or
burned tn ktins The characters are In
some instances as much as two inches In
length. while others are SO small that they
CANNOT % uHciphereu without tNe Ald ok
maEnifyng glass Great numbers ~ thcm
have been fopud IN Persia, and there have
been frequent finds along the Caspian sea
and n Egypt Like the modern alphabet,
the cuneatic characters may be used IN
different languages Those which were
first discovered and dsciphered are In three
hnguawes one language may be more
complicated or more simple than another,
bur the "wedge" IL present IN aN-that
character auI No other Is used but It has
hundreds 81 variants The Persian Is the
simplest. the Sythian is a little harder
While the Assyrian IS the most difficult Of
all and Is said TO contain between so and
100 characters. From what early time this
kind % writing was praoticed has not been
accurately determined but II IS known
that Il ceased FOR the most part soon after
he time OF Alexander the Great For
~" years It was absolutely forgotten.
The account Of It's rediscovery may be told
In few words in "A quotation. In 1918
Garcia dc sylvia Figueros. ambassador Of
Philip III. OF Spain, while on visit to the
ruins OF Persopolis, copied a small portion
OF an inscription and expressed the con-
Netion that II was in some lost writing.
and perhaps some lost language. When
This had become uoised abroad over Eu-
rope almost every traveller Of note in the
East referred 10 these Inscriptions, and