286 



TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



However, the masterpieces of Champollionistic interpretations 

 of hieroglyphic texts are Brugsch's Geographic and Hieroglyphic 

 Dictionaries. Relying upon his fixed idea that the map of the 

 ancient earth, encompassed by the ocean, signifies ideologically 

 " city," and that all groups preceded by the same map contain 

 the names of cities, he created a thousand cities which never 

 existed. But, alas, the said map commonly signifies the earth 

 (fimi, circuitus terrse), e.g. in the frequently occurring group eye, 

 hill, earth (see PL xiii. No. i6i ; R. S. vi. 36; T. S. v. etc.), 

 which signifies oout fimi, creator niundi. Moreover, the groups 

 preceding the said map express the names of deities, and not of 

 cities. Hence Brugsch's Geographical Dictionary is, with few 

 exceptions, a deplorable failure. In consequence of this ignis 

 fatuus poor G. built the new cities " Hebnu, Sah, Ahehu, Shat, 

 Egypt, Suten-senen." 



So far as B's Dictionary of four volumes in 4to, containing over 

 10,000 articles, is concerned, the writer is probably the only per- 

 son in the world who was patient enough to examine it from the 

 first to the last word, and he is able to prove that this pyramidal 

 construction (price 560 frs.) contains scarcely one word of truth ; 

 at an average, of 100 articles scarcely one is true. This is — it 

 will be objected— quite impossible, and yet it is true. Let us see. 



I. B. knew not even the usual signs of plurality (Trans, of the 

 St. Ls. Acad. Sci., vol. iv. 59) ; hence he took numberless sub- 

 stantives for verbs and adverbs, and plurals for singulars. The 



