278 TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



II. Is it true that the Egyptian hieroglyphs originated from 

 the primitive ideologic writing, or rather is the Noachian alpha- 

 bet of 25 letters the basis of them ? Ch. proceeded on the flat- 

 tering idea that the first man was not " created in the image of 

 God," but was procreated by an ape some millions of years ago, 

 and it is probable that he with his own eyes had seen how this 

 first rational being was developed from the monkey. Accord- 

 ingly, of course, the art of writing, says Ch., must have com- 

 menced with figurative signs, but, after some millions of years 

 (about 1500 years B.C.), Cadmus invented our phonetic letters, 

 totally unknown to the Egyptians (6,000 years b.c.) All these 

 fixed ideas are contradicted by history. For history reports that 

 900 years before the deluge, which was not " confined to but a 

 small portion of our globe,"* a book already existed ; the Koran 

 asserts that Noah wrote a book ; in the Vedas and Avesta we 

 read that the antediluvian books were lost, in consequence of 

 which the human race became wicked, and therefore God re- 

 solved to extirpate it. Pliny mentions " aeternum literarum 

 usum," and, according to the ancient historian of the Chaldeans, 

 a heavenly deity, prior to the deluge, delivered the art of writing, 

 geometry, and other sciences, to the human race. The same Be- 

 rosus narrates that Sisustro, in whose days the deluge took place, 

 wrote books. Even Diodor (de comp. verb. v. 57) and Tzetzes 

 (Chil. V. 28) testify to the loss of the antediluvian books. All 

 these traditions concur in demonstrating that prior to the deluge 

 both an alphabet and written works existed ; and who is able to 

 believe that human society during a period of 2424 years would 

 have remained vmable to represent the elements of their spoken 

 words by certain characters? 



We proceed now to the reports according to which the general 

 alphabet of 25 letters, inclusive of 7 vowels, was saved by the 

 man who outlived the deluge. First, ancient Berosus of Chaldaea 

 tells that Sisustro (Noah) referred the primitive alphabet to the 

 Zodiac, and, subsequent to the deluge, delivered the same to his. 

 posterity. This is confirmed by the fact that the alphabets of all 

 ancient nations agree with each other concerning the consecution 



of the letters («, b^ c, ii)-, the number of the consonants- 



and vowels, their names and characters, as has been demonstrated 



• Pojnna, " Delia universalita del Diluvio." Poligrafo di Verona. ;S_. . Vo'.. xi. p..a45^ 



