1898-99. | THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 19 
decipher these hieroglyphics is due to Champollion ; but Dr. Thomas 
Young, of England, by devoting his mind to the subject, had discovered 
a key to open this lock that had defied the vigorous attempts of all 
previous philologists. It is strange that there was a passage in the 
writings of Clemens of Alexandria which stated the way in which these 
monuments should have been read. He stated distinctly that in Egypt 
there were two languages, the language of the priest and the language of 
the country. On each monument were found three inscriptions—the 
hieroglyphic inscription—the language of the country, and beneath it a 
Greek inscription. For some time considerable attention was devoted 
to try to decipher these three inscriptions. Dr. Young got a fac-simile 
of one of these tombstones with the three inscriptions. The Greek 
inscription was easily read, but in his studies he discovered that some 
parts of the inscription were enclosed in a sort of oval or cartouche. No 
one could tell the age of the stone or the event it was intended to 
commemorate. He thought that before entering upon the subject it 
would be necessary to have some knowledge of Coptic. From this study 
he conjectured there was something in the inscription which indicated 
that it was executed during the reign of the Ptolemies. On commencing 
with these cartouches he found that they repeated ; the first discovery he 
made was that of the name of Cleopatra. The Dr. here said that the mode 
by which the phonetic power of the hieroglyphics is established is this. 
In representing the name GEORGE, they represented the G. by a Grey- 
hound, the E. by an Eagle, O. was an Ox, and R. a Rabbit, the G. and E: 
were again repeated, thus using a full symbol for each word they 
intended to represent. Such was the origin of,the reading of this 
wonderful system, which has been followed up by Champollion the 
younger. He (Dr. McCaul) felt convinced, however, that Dr. T. Young, 
long before Champollion the elder wrote any pamphlet upon the subject, 
had discovered these inscriptions, which, while they immortalized those 
persons that made them, have tended to dissipate those infidel specu- 
lations about the truth of Christianity in reference to these monuments 
having existed so long before the Bible account of creation, and have 
shown that they were written absolutely not more than two or three 
hundred years before the birth of our Lord. The Doctor, in conclusion, 
alluded to the universality of science and literature ; they belonged to 
every age and every country, and even in the past year we had a 
glorious example of the national unity which existed, when men of all 
nations united together in glorious rivalry to do honour to science, and 
when all were glad to unite in that one song—* Glory to God in the 
highest ; on earth peace and good will to men.” 
