A Story Outline of Evolution 



tions and they had been subjected to many changes during 

 this time. There is evidence that the Phoenicians had trade 

 intercourses with both the Egyptians and Babylonians, 

 because some of the early Phoenician characters making up 

 the Phoenician alphabet resemble in many respects some of 

 the characters used by the early Egyptians and Babylonians. 

 Trade intercourse between peoples of different habits and 

 customs leaves certain distinguishing marks and influences 

 borrowed each from the other. 



It will suffice for the purposes of showing growth and 

 development, to say that the present evidence points to the 

 reasonable conclusion that the employment of a small num- 

 ber of signs to represent the elementary sounds originated 

 with the Semites, of which race the Phoenicians were a 

 branch, and that it is from this source that the English 

 alphabet has come to us, with many modifications, changes 

 and additions through the Greek and Latin alphabets. 



The curtain of time has veiled the origin of the alpha- 

 bet which we use in our daily life so that we can see through 

 it only dimly, but beyond this origin, however remote, there 

 was another system of communication known as picture writ- 

 ing, which was employed for unknown ages. This system 

 was in use among all the ancient nations, but it was more 

 highly developed and better preserved by the Egyptians 

 than by any other of the ancient people. This pictorial sys- 

 tem of writing is known as the hieroglyphic system and it 

 furnished some of the oldest and most artistic writing in 

 the world. Philologists have divided this system into three 

 groups known as Hieroglyphic, Hieratic and Demotic, 

 meaning pictogram writing, idiogram writing and phono- 



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