Chase.] |72 IMarch. 



pores of the cork, according to the laws of the diifusion of gases. If 

 this view of the matter be correct, I can readily imagine how a bottle 

 of ether might come into a position to absorb substances which 

 might prove very injurious in cases of anaesthesia. 

 Yours, very respectfully, 



Charles M. Wetherill, 



Chemist, Department of Agriculture. 



Mr. Chase resumed the discussion of similar forms and 

 meanings between the Chinese characters and the classical 

 alphabets. While admitting that some of the resemblances 

 might be accidental, he could not believe that they were all 

 so. The pointings in a uniform direction are so numerous, 

 that if the attention of scholars who are able to study the 

 Chinese movements on their own soil could be fully aroused, 

 important results might reasonably be looked for. The 

 general character of these pointings was illustrated by the 

 following remarks. 



a. Most of the Chinese syllables that end in the sound of ^ (En- 

 glish e), are pronounced i by some of the natives, and at (English i) 

 by others, thus indicating the possible provincialism, that established 

 the peculiar sound of the letter i in our language. One of the Chi- 

 nese characters that represent this sound, resembles a small e in its 

 ordinary form, while in the running hand it has the two forms of 

 our written I and E. [See Plate I, fig. 1.] 



b. Some of the Chinese hieroglyphs have both the form and the 

 phonetic value of the modern script. Thus the radical for tooth, Ya^ 

 has the form of Y, Tsze, of Z (German tsetJt) ; Shan, of Hebrew 

 shin, and Russian sha ; Fow, of German foiv ; &c. [PI. I, fig. 2.] 



c. Not only are isolated letters found in Chinese, but also combi- 

 nations of letters in syllables that retain a pronunciation similar to 

 that indicated by the phonetic value of the letters. For example, 

 the syllable ki (Eng. ke, or ki), is sometimes written in the follow- 

 ing ways, to indicate three difi'erent meanings ; u^ or n^^ XxQ^ or 

 O, ItN, [PI. I, fig. 3], and each of these forms can be readily 

 traced to the primitive radicals of which it is composed. The re- 

 semblance of the last form to the German KN, as well as the reten- 

 tion of Chinese names for German letters, is suggestive of the resem- 

 bclane that exists in the angular character of the Chinese and German 

 texts. 



