158 



may be also drawn from the characters on the Babylonian bricks, 

 of which a fac-simile is given in Maurice's Observations on the 

 Ruins of Babylon.* From this it appears, that these characters 

 were disposed into several perpendicular columns ; in which tlie 

 characters themselves were arranged one beneath the other. 



Before concluding this pciper, it may be necessary to make a 

 remark or two on the resemblances between the characters, and 

 the sensible objects designated by their names ; inasmuch as at- 

 tempts have been frequently made to trace such resemblances. 

 They have been considered by many as fanciful,i- while others 

 have denied the existence of any resemblance whatsoever. 

 When, however, it is taken into consideration, that these resem- 

 blances have hitherto been traced in the characters viewed in their 

 upright, not lateral position, any failure of this kind can furnish no I 



argument against the ideas on this subject, which have been ad- 

 vanced in the earlier part of this essay. They may rather be con- 

 sidered as giving weight to them, inasmuch as they seem to direct 



their perpendicular rows at tlie right side. Still, however, it affords no small countenance to 

 the position, which lies at the foundation of the present reasoning : namely, the distribution of 

 alphabetic characters one beneath the other. 



* See Maurice's Observations on the Ruins of Babylon : Plate in p. 34. Fig. 2. Svo. 

 London, 1S16. For this argument I am indebted to the Rev. Doctor BaiTett, Vice Provost 

 of Trinity College, Dublin. See also Fig. I, in same plate, representing an ancient inscription 

 on the walls of Persepolis. 



Mr. H. Mason, of this Academy, has also furnished me with another illustration of this 

 principle, in the striking resemblance between the Arabic or Indian figures expressing the 

 numbers two and three, and those of the characters now in use for these numbers, when the 

 former are written in the lateral position. 



t Sue Hermannus Hugo de Prima Scribendi Origine 12mo. Antwerpiac, 1617. See also, 

 The Origin end Structure of the Greek Tongue, by Doctor Gregory Sharp, p. (15J p. (159) 

 Svo. London, i777. 



