Chase.] ][74. [March. 



with an outline resembling the Hebrew n, seems naturally connected, 

 both by its form and phonetic value, with the Phenician hatchet- 

 shaped D and R. 



i. The use of similar symbols for different radicals, seems some- 

 times to point to a still older primitive. In this way the supposed 

 Egyptian equivalent for the V!, is connected with the Chinese sym- 

 bols for Mountain, Mouth, Tooth, and Hand, perhaps through the 

 intermediate idea of piercing, or projecting. [PL I, fig. 6. The 

 first symbol is Egyptian, the others Chinese. The third form is em- 

 ployed by the Chinese, both for '' mountain," and for " mouth."] 



k. An apparent association with other supposed hieroglyphics, may 

 be indirectly traced in some Chinese compounds, when such a con- 

 nection would hardly be suspected in the simple elements. Thus 

 the letter y in Chinese represents a wheeled vehicle. The Hebrew 

 J is supposed to have been derived from the outline of a camel's 

 head and neck. The Chinese have a character Ko, which when 

 joined to the radical Ma, " a horse," is pronounced Lo, and signifies 

 "a camel." The same character Ko, when joined to the radical 

 Chay (which is represented by G), signifies " wagon." The form G 

 can be derived even more easily from the Chinese hieroglyphic re- 

 presentation of a vehicle [PI. I, fig. 7], than the form j from the 

 hieroglyphic of a camel. There are many other indications that the 

 third letter of the alphabet at first signified " a carrier." 



I. Some of the Chinese literal analogues appear to furnish an ono- 

 matopoetic clue to the shape of the letters, that is wanting in the 

 significance usually attached to the various ancient alphabets. When 

 we are told that iv means " hand," and £3D " hollow hand," there 

 seems to be no natural connection between the sound and sense. But 

 when we find that in Chinese, Ya signifies '' teeth ; the parting 

 branches of a tree; anything forked;" and that its hieroglyphic re- 

 presentative is Y, while Keen, *'to gape," is represented by K, the 

 natural position of the mouth when one is gaping, or calling atten- 

 tion to the teeth by signs is represented by the forked portions of 

 those letters. 



m. The Chinese characters are not all ideographic. Some of them 

 are evidently combined phonetically, according to fixed rules of spell- 

 ing, and others may probably, as M. de Guignes suggests, be com- 

 posed of a number of alphabetic elements, that spell Hebrew, Pheni- 

 cian, and other ancient words. M. de Guignes claimed that he 

 could spell, according to his system, over five hundred Chinese 

 words, but unfortunately he appears to have left no record of any 



