114 
V.—On the first and second Kinds of Persepolitan Writing. By the Rev. 
Epwarp Hincxs, D.D. 
Read June 9th, 1846. 
IN the course of my inquiry into the exact powers of the characters in the 
Egyptian alphabet, my attention was directed to the second kind of Persepolitan 
writing, as one, a comparison of which with the Egyptian might throw light 
upon both. From a cursory examination of this writing, it appeared to me that 
it agreed with the Egyptian in some remarkable particulars, such as making no 
distinction hetween the hard and soft sounds corresponding to each other, and 
having several characters to represent the same sounds in different words. This 
observation made me desirous of investigating the nature of the writing more 
fully ; and I accordingly procured the work of Westergaard, who is the only 
writer that has made any considerable progress in deciphering it, as well as the 
last work of Lassen, containing his latest views on the first Persepolitan writing. 
An examination of these works, with constant reference to the inscriptions them- 
selves, led me to the conclusion that the authors had, in some important points, 
misconceived the nature of both these kinds of writing. I found that many rec- 
tifications of the views put forward by them were requisite, before the true nature 
of the languages and systems of writing could be correctly understood. ‘These 
rectifications, as, if I do not greatly deceive myself, I flatter myself I have ascer- 
tained them, I now lay before the Academy, as a companion to my paper on the 
hieroglyphic character. 
To avoid the inconvenience of frequently using the cuneatic characters, | 
give, once for all, a list of them, arranged according to the order of their consti- 
tuent parts, without any reference to their value. This arrangement, so far as 
respects the first kind of writing, is due, I believe, to Seyffarth; and, as respects 
