ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. 207 



(/") That Assyrian cylinders often contain two distinct 

 elements, viz.: (i) that which tells a story, and (2) that 

 which means nothing at all ; the latter being meant to 

 fill up spaces with characters that would distinguish that 

 seal froin all others. The hardness of the cylinder stone, 

 the rude implements with which they worked, and the 

 smallness of the surface, may have been some of the 

 causes of the degradation of their trees and horns, and 

 their transformation into various allied forms. 



It appears to me that by the mixing of peoples, and 

 by the poetic fancies of philosophers and artists, there 

 has been, not only a hybridization of symbols, but also, 

 as might be expected, the evolution of new genera and 

 species. 



The struggle of nations, and of ideas, has resulted 

 in the survival of the fittest symbols ; at the same 

 time that the survivors have frequently lost many of 

 the original characters of their ancestors, and acquired 

 new ones. Now it is only by means of 'splint bones,' 

 and other degraded features, that we can in many cases 

 decipher these hieroglyphics, and trace the common 

 descent of a whole congeries of symbols. 



We have, for instance, the great symbol of the 

 Supreme Deity, as also that of the tree and horns, 

 from which a whole series of new forms evolved. We 

 have other symbols — that of the lotus, the holy water, 

 all those represented by hands — one raised hand, two 



