200 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



or Alexander the Great, either in Egypt or in Italy, must have 

 existed. 



It would be disgustful, and wasting time, to previously review 

 all the other chimeras, wherefore we may proceed to the gram- 

 matical analysis of our 409 groups and figures on the Pompeian 

 stele. In advance, we have to mention that the Pompeian slab, 

 at present nearly three fingers disk, was formerly a cube, perhaps 

 the pedestal for a statue. At least, on the edges of both sides 

 the initial and final letters of 20 hieroglyphic lines are still to be 

 seen. Since, moreover, the principal inscription praises the great 

 works of God in human nature and life, we may guess that the 

 other three sides of the cube would specify the infinite wisdom 

 and bounty of the Creator in reference to the animal, botanical, 

 and mineral kingdoms, of which nothing is mentioned on the 

 main side. 



Further, it is to be remembered that Vespasian, being returned 

 from Judea and Egypt, introduced the Egyptian religion in 

 Rome and many other Italian cities, and, no wonder, even in 

 Pompeii. 



It will be objected that Goodwin's deplorable translation of the 

 Pompeian altar was a juvenile work, and an overhasty attempt 

 to interpret hieroglyphic texts. But his name figures very often 

 in "Records of the Past" since 1872, and the preface says ex- 

 pressly that the publication involves "the final corrections by the 

 translators. It is hardly necessary to refer to their value as con- 

 tributions to mythological, historical and philological knowledge, 

 as this is now universally {'i) recognized." Goodwin's version 

 is a complete reflected image of Champollion's world-renowned 

 system. 



Furthermore, since the literature of the Egyptians commenced 

 3,000 years prior to the Coptic ; since all languages of the world 

 undergo alterations according to certain and common rules ; 

 since the Egyptian language, represented in all hieroglyphic 

 texts, was, as Josephus says, a sacred dialect {hjjd didAsxzo^), 

 i.e. an old Coptic and Hebrew one, — it is to be borne in mind in 

 what way older languages are transformed into later dialects. 

 The principal and universal law is — to put in place of the hard 

 the soft, instead of the difficult the easier, in lieu of the longer 

 the shorter one. (See the writer's Gram. ^g. p. 3.) 



