The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-08-23

Judging from the kind Of written eX-
ercisc remaining on the tablet 1t is
supposed that the boy was about II
years old. At any rate he erased his
mistakes, as Is shown by his thumb
marks, which are as plain to-day as
they We're when the youngSter made
them in far off Babylonia 1900 years
ago. and he probably never came back
To- school II he did he used some other
tablet.
Among the tablets already deCiphored
and preserved in the university museum
are books on geography, history. as
trnnomy, &c, for use in preparatory
/ schools, these leading up to volumes
needed by students in the theological
seminary. And those prepared for the
priesthood include hundreds of tablets
prescribing liturgy and the use Of
hymns. while others are inscribed with
passages from Sumerian sacred books
Not only this. hut scores upon scores of
! tablets deal with such matters as the
order Of prayer. and the kind and char
acter of priestly Vestments To he worn
are carefully described.
Prof. I.angdon is reported as saying
| that perhaps the most astonishing de-
| tail he found while examining the tab
! lets is that some of them. used by the
| Nippur Theological Seminary. show that
the Colors of the stoles worn by sumner
ian priests at the different seasons We're
| exactly the same as those worn to-day
by priests Of the Roman Catholic Church,
the Greek Church. the Church of Eng
land, the Protestant Episcopal Church
in the United States. &c.
Dr. Langdon has reduced the Sumcr-
| ian language to "A grammar and is en-
gagged upon what many think will prove
| to be his life work, book on the
Sumerian religion. which is the earliest
systematic religion known. This book
will be published by the University of
Pennsylvania Museum,
DR.. Gordon as well as DIR. Langdon
and other scholars gives full credit to
Miss Connorton and Mr.. Witte for their
part in making the broken tablets avail
able for examination. Mr.. Whites work
is largely that of "A system OF compare
tive photography of tablets and portions
Of tablets after Miss ConnortOn has AS
sembled them. Her method shows both
originality and ingenuity. For nearly
fifteen years this young woman has
spent her working hours down in the
Laboratories of the museum painstak-
ingIy going over fragments To piece to-
gether some tablet that has been called
for.
Her first step is to examine with care
the individual characteristics of the per-
son who made inscriptions on the frag-
ment given her to complete. She OBJ
serves every little popularity Of stroke,
punctuation, formation of curve and
line until she is as thoroughly familiar
with them as with the characteristics of
her own penmanship, Then she pro-
ceeds to search through one box after
another until she finds several frag-
ments that to her trained eye seem to
/ belong to the tablet she is trying to
complete.
one after another she tries, working
with them as with "A picture puzzle, and
when she finds "A bit, be 1t large or small
that seems To fit exactly she cleanseS il
of the inCrustation 50 that the Cuneifurm
may he seen, Owing to the fact that
the tablets were made of unbaked clay
the greatest care must be used in this
cleansing process. 4 slip of the hand
the stroke of stff brush, might be
fatal When the fragment is finally
| clean Miss Connorton either with the
naked eye or with magnifying glass
studies the characters on IL and soon is
able to tell whether they were written