cxxiv GENERAL SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC AND 



forming a very great contrast with those of the later Phoeni- 

 cian, Greek, and Roman occupants of the island. "The lan- 

 guage of the Cyprians may be considered as solved." Twen- 

 ty years ago the Due de Luynes published his work on Cy- 

 priote inscriptions ; many scholars went to work on them with 

 varying success. Ten years ago, Mr. Lang, English Consul 

 at Cyprus, found a bilingual dedicatory inscription in Cypri- 

 ote and Phoenician. Dr. Birch discovered that the language 

 was Greek. Mr. Langj and Mr. George Smith endeavored to 

 decipher them, the latter discovering thirty-three out of the 

 fifty- two characters. Drawn away by his great Assyrian 

 discoveries, his work was taken up by Dr. Brandis, who suc- 

 ceeded in completely unraveling the mystery. The dialect 

 is unique, but resembles in many respects the Arcadian and 

 the Cretan. The alphabet, originally intended to distinguish 

 every primitive syllable by a letter, came in time to repre- 

 sent only the consonants in the syllables. The origin of this 

 alphabet and system of writing remain a mystery, awaiting 

 further research. Recently another bilingual tablet has been 

 discovered. 



The Palestine Exploration Fund continues its thorough in- 

 vestigations into the archaeology of Palestine and Syria, and 

 though languishing somewhat through want of money, it will 

 no doubt complete the work so nobly begun. The Ameri- 

 can Palestine Exploration Society, which, by agreement with 

 the English Society, has been operating on the east side of 

 the Jordan, has consummated its arrangements for sending 

 out a large party under the command of Colonel C.Lane in 

 December. Professor Selah B. Merrill is added to the archae- 

 ological department. Professor Payne, who has been in the 

 field for two years, is preparing the " Third Statement," which 

 will contain, among other matter, an account of his discovery 

 of the sites of Pisgah and Nebo. 



Much warm discussion has arisen over the Shapira collec- 

 tion of Moabite pottery, etc., but, through the strenuous ef- 

 forts of Mr. Clermont Ganneau, it seems to be proved that 

 the objects are forgeries. Messrs. C. Tyrwhitt Drake and 

 A.W.Franks have published a work on the skulls and im- 

 plements of Palestine. 



Mr. George Smith, whose interesting and brilliant career 

 as a cuneiform decipherer has so long interested students of 



