204 



verted questions of early history, the literary public are now well 

 acquainted. 



Dr. Hincks's first paper on Persepolitan writing was communi- 

 cated to the Academy in June, 1846, before the publication of the 

 first part of Major Eawlinson's memoir. In this paper he proposes 

 three general principles respecting the orthography of the Persian, 

 in which he corrects Lassen's account of that language. The most 

 important of these consists in the distinction of the consonants into 

 two classes, which he calls primary and secondary, — the former 

 being those which may be used before the vowel a, expressed or 

 supplied, the latter such as are only used before one of the other 

 vowels. Dr. Hincks maintains, in opposition to Lassen, that these 

 secondary consonants are phonetically equivalent to their primaries; 

 and he lays it down, " as an invariable rule, that if a primary con- 

 sonant precedes i or u, when a secondary consonant existed of the 

 same value as the primary one, and appropriate to that vowel, an 

 a ynust be interposed, either as a distinct syllable, or as & guna to 

 the vowel." The Persian alphabet may now be considered to be 

 completely established. Of the thirty-nine letters which compose 

 it, Major Rawlinson and Dr. Hincks are now agreed as to the 

 values of all but one ; Dr. Hincks having adopted three of Major 

 Eawlinson's values, and Major Rawlinson having taken, indepen- 

 dently, nine of those assigned by Dr. Hincks. 



The data for the investigation of the Median, or second Persepo- 

 litan writing, are abundant, the trilingual inscriptions of Persepolis 

 and Behistun furnishing more than ninety proper names, together 

 with their Persian equivalents. Notwithstanding this, the progress 

 made in the investigation has been comparatively small. In fact, 

 with the exception of Grotefend, who made the first step, Wester- 

 gaard is the only writer who has attempted the task of deciphering 

 it with success. Major Rawlinson, indeed, informs us, in his Me- 

 moir on the Persian character, that he has made considerable pro- 

 gress in deciphering the two other kinds of Persepolitan writing; 

 and he has given a sketch of his views on the orthography, and the 

 general structure and affinities of the language of the second kind : 

 but none of his results, as to the values of the characters, have 

 been as yet published. 



