98 Dr. Hodgkin on the Importance of Studying and 



plete truth, unbiassed by the opinion to which they may incline, 

 although it may be perfectly allowable to them to contem- 

 plate, from time to time, the fragments which they may have 

 brought together, since such surveys are not only pleasing in 

 themselves but may be the means of pointing the way to new 

 researches. Thus, I had no sooner read the view exhibited 

 by Dr. Lang than my attention was awakened to what may 

 be merely an accidental coincidence, but which nevertheless 

 suggests an inquiry which may bring to light some curious 

 facts. In the last number of the Asiatic Society's Journal 

 there is an interesting abstract of a work by a Chinese anti- 

 quary on the ancient vases of his country. These vases, 

 which appear to be as highly prized by the virtuosi of China, 

 as the Grecian, Sicilian, and Etruscan vases are by the col- 

 lectors of Europe, are calculated, like them, to afford a few im- 

 portant rays of historical light ; in fact it appears that they 

 afford data which are even more valuable, since they preserve 

 inscriptions which are still legible, and may themselves be re- 

 ferred with greater certainty to particular ages. In looking 

 at the sketches of some of these vases to which the greatest 

 antiquity is ascribed, I was forcibly struck with a similarity 

 between the designs with which they are ornamented and the 

 carvings upon some implements brought from the South Sea 

 Islands. One of the points of resemblance consisted in the 

 mode in which uncouth representations of the human counte- 

 nance are repeated upon the same article. I am well aware 

 that there is no necessity to call in the assistance of remote 

 connexion between the artists producing these works, in the 

 fact of their both rudely attempting to imitate the same forms 

 when the originals were equally present to both. It is the 

 similarity in the mode in which they each deviate from nature 

 which is, at least, remarkable. The attention which this ca- 

 sual observation excited, has induced me to look with greater 

 interest at the variously carved and ornamented implements 

 brought from the South Seas and preserved in cabinets, and 

 I have observed that besides the characteristic and often beau- 

 tiful patterns which these carvings exhibit, we may occasion- 

 ally find the representations of human and other figures which,' 

 notwithstanding the rudeness of the outline, appear to have 

 been destined to tell some story, — that in fact they are a kind 

 of hieroglyphic. 



Although the circumstances which these symbols are meant 

 to record must now be lost in oblivion, it is by no means impos- 

 sible that they may lead to the detection of a system for the 

 expression of ideas, the investigation of which may be a use- 

 ful adjunct to our inquiries respecting the oral languages of 



