134 REPORT—1857. 
High. Diameter. 
feet. in. feet. in. 
8. Drumbo, Co. Down (a stump) «.....sesseeeee spawns ahd 33 0 16 5 
9. Drumclewe, Co. Clare (a fragment) ..........ssse0e0 50 O 16 0 
10. Dysart, Limerick Co. (an imperfect shaft) .......... 64 O Ck Ail 
11. Dysart O. Dea, Co. Clare (a fragment) ...........+4 50 O 19 5 
12. Inniscaltra, Galway (imperfect shaft) ..............60¢ ; 70 5 15 0 
13. Kilcullen, Co. Kildare (a stump) ..........ceseseeerees 30 9 15 0 
14. Kilmallock, Co. Limerick (much altered from its 57 0 16 10 
oblginal state) ask. <cyaeees Bib lviedecsadecssestet cde’ 
15. Kumeagh, Co. Cork (imperfect shaft with hex- 67 3 21 0 
agonal base inscribed in a circle). . .........e+008- 
16. Monasterboice, Co. Louth (imperfect shaft).......... 76 6 15 1 
17. Oughterard, Co. Kildare (a stump) .........sssseeeees 40 0 15 0 
18. Roscorn, Galway (a stump) ............0008 scesseedoes 32 0 15 9 
19. Roscrea, Tipperary (an imperfect shaft) ..........+- 69 0 14 9 
20. Tullatrerin, Co. Kilkenny (the top not original) .... 73 3 16 0 
Killashee, Co. Kildare, has a square base; St. Kevin’s Tower, Glendalough, Co. 
Wicklow, stands on the vaulted roof of St. Kevin’s Church at the west end. It is 
perfect, and measures 46 feet high from the ground to the apex. 
On the relation between the newly-discovered Accadian Language and the 
Indo-European, Semitic, and Egyptian Languages ; with remarks on the 
original values of certain Semitic Letters, and on the state of the Greek 
Alphabet at different periods. By the Rev. E. Hincxs, LL.D. 
The facts from which the author proposed to reason relate to the language of the 
Assyrians, the mode of writing of the Assyrians, and the language of the people who 
invented this mode of writing, or, as they have been called, the Accadians. The 
Assyrian language is a member of the family which has been generally called Semitic. 
This term may be retained, as no preferable term presents itself; but is objection- 
able, as we have no reason to suppose that the divisions of mankind with respect to 
language and with respect to descent were coincident. All the Semitic languages 
that were known before the discovery of the Assyrian agree with one another in 
some important particulars in which they differ from the Assyrian. For example, 
they have H in the separate pronouns and affixes of the third person, and in the 
preformative of causative verbs; while the Assyrian has S. They may be classed 
together as the Syro-Arabian sub-family of the Semitic family of languages ; the 
Assyrio-Babylonian being its other sub-family. 
The grand distinctive feature of the Semitic languages is that in them the roots 
are consonantal. Most commonly, they consist of three consonants, or what are 
considered as such; but in no instance does a vowel form part of the root. The 
vowels are used to determine the grammatical forms, which they sometimes do alone, 
but oftener with the assistance of consonants, prefixed or suffixed to those of the 
root or inserted among them. In all other languages, on the contrary, the roots are 
syllabic ; though in many languages the vowels are liable to be changed in certain 
grammatical forms, and consonants may be inserted within the roots. Besides the 
ordinary consonants, the semi-vowels W and Y, and certain breathings, there are 
combinations of consonantal sounds, which are treated in Semitic grammar as simple 
consonants. 
Now this distinctive feature of Semitic language, that its roots are consonantal, con- 
nects itself naturally with a distinctive feature of Semitic writing. It is consonantal. 
Its characters represent those consonants, or what were considered as such, which 
are capable of being elements of roots. It has, properly speaking, no vowels. In 
Hebrew, as it is now printed, there are points attached to the letters, which indicate 
the vowels with which these letters are to be sounded; but it is generally admitted 
that these points were no part of the original text. There are also some letters, 
which in certain cases supply the place of vowels when the points are not written. 
: 
| 
i 
; 
