EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 127 



offending the feelings wliicli this question has excited. The secretary of 

 an academy occupied exchisively with the exact sciences might indeed, 

 without impropriety, remit tliis pliilological subject to other more com- 

 petent judges. I also feared, I will avow, to hud myself iu disagree- 

 ment on several important points with the illustrious uuin of science 

 whose labors it has been so delightful to me to analyze, without having 

 to add a word of criticism from my pen. All these scruples, however, 

 vanish when I reflect tbat the interpretation of hierogly])hics has been 

 one of the most beautifnl discoveries of our age ; that Young himself 

 has mixed up my name with discussions relating to it ; that to examine 

 whether France can pretend to this new title to glory, is to enhance the 

 importance of the task confided to me at this moment, and to perform 

 the duty of a good citizen. I am aware that some may find narrowness 

 in these sentiments. I am not ignorant that the cosmopolitan spirit has 

 its good side ; but with what name shall I stigmatize it, if, when all 

 neighboring nations enumerate with triumph the discoveries of their 

 sons, it should hinder me from seeking, even in the present circle, 

 among tbose colleagues whose modesty I would not hurt, the proof that 

 France is not degenerate ; that she also adds every year her glorious 

 contingent to the vast deposit of human knowledge!* 



I approach, then, the question of Egyptian writing, and I do so free 

 from all prejudice, with the firm wish of being just ; with the lively 

 desire to conciliate the rival pretensions of two men of science, whose 

 premature death has been to all Europe a legitimate subject of regret. 

 Lastly,', I shall not in this discussion on hieroglyphics transgress the 

 bounds imposed on me ; happy if those who listen to me, and whose 

 indulgence I ask, may find that I have known how to escape the infiueuce 

 of a subject whose obscurity is proverbial. 



Men have imagined two systems of writing entirely distinct. One is 

 that employed by the Chinese, which is the system of hieroglj^phics ; 

 the other, at present in use among all other nations, bears the name of 

 the alphabetical or phonetic system. 



The Chinese have no letters properly so called : the characters which 

 they use in writing are strictly hieroglyphics ; they do not represent 

 sounds or articulations, but ideas. Thus a house is represented bj' a 

 unique and special character, which does not change even when the 

 Chinese have (;ome to call a house, in their spoken language, by a name 

 totally difixirent from that which they formerly pronounced. Does this 

 result appear surprising? Imagine the case of our ciphers, which are 

 also hieroglyphics ; the idea of one added to itself seven times is expressed 

 everywhere in France, iu England, in Spain, tfcc, by the aid of two cir- 

 cles placed vertically one over the other, and touching iu one point ; but 

 in looking at this hieroglyphic sign (8) the Frenchman pronounces •' huit," 

 the Englishman "eight,'' the Spaniard "ocho." IsTo oneis ignorant that it 

 is the same with compound numbers. Thus, to speak briefly, if the Chinese 

 ideographic signs were generally adopted, as the Arabic numerals are, 

 every one would read in his own language the works which they pre- 



* In bringing out a part of tliis cliapter oil Egyptian liieroglypliics in the Annuairo 

 for 183G, Arago has added : " The iirst exact interpi'etation which has been given of 

 Egyptian hieroglyphics will certainly take its i>laco amoiig the most beautiful discov- 

 eries of the age. Besides, after the animated debates to which it has given birth, 

 every one would desire to know whether France can conscientiously pretend to this new 

 title to glory. Thus the importance of the question, and the national self-love ]n-op- 

 erly understood, unite in encouraging me to publish the result of a minute examina- 

 tion to which I have devoted myself. Can I, then, be blind to the danger which there 

 always is in attempting difficult subjects in matters which we have not made th© 

 special subject of our studies ? " 



