304 
medy the defects of carriages, will ap- 
pear, from a few brief remarks upon the 
other attempts that have been made for 
this purpose, viz. the old crane-necked 
perch, the lock under waggon, and Ei- 
liot’s patent carriage without a perch, all 
which reduced the points of support from 
four to three, when the carriage is making 
a short turn, and though each of them 
will turn shorter and in a narrower 
space than other common carriages, 
yet they still require either the same 
preparatory movement as a common 
carriage, or else that they should not 
turn until the hind axle has nearly 
reached the corner or other obstacle to 
be turned, which is a material drawback 
from the only advantage they possess, 
for they are subject to all the other de- 
fects of common carriages, and to some 
of them, such as heaviness in draft, from 
having low fore-wheels and fixed hind 
axle, even in a still greater degree. 
Ackermann’s patent moveable crank 
fore axle is an ingenious improvement ; 
but as its hind wheels are in the same 
defective state as those of a common 
carriage, it must be subject to most of 
the same inconveniences and dangers. 
The London coal-waggon principle is a 
considerable improvement in carriages 
of that kind, as it gives large fore-wheels 
the pewer of turning with sufficient obli- 
quity, by having the main bolt placed 
about a foot behind the fore-axle, which 
is connected with the bolt by an offset ; 
but this improved waggon has the hind 
wheels and axle paralized; and the 
improvement is not suitable for car- 
riages on springs, that moye with ra- 
pidity, and carry light weights. Lastly, 
the Swiss principle, which has been tried 
in stage-coaches on the Margate and 
Brighton roads, is not a remedy, but a 
compromise with the original defect, as 
it makes room for larger fore-wheels, by 
dividing the body into two parts, or the 
coach bar and boot from the body, which 
makes it a lumbering and heavy machine. 
These remarks may show that carriages 
will never possess the properties they 
ought to have, until an alternate, equal, 
and simultaneous action shall be given 
to them, upon a simple, effective, and 
scientific principle. 
The demonstration of the principle of 
action, that the writer has discovered, 
is too long and dry to be here given; 
and a plate could not verify the action 
here proposed to be applied to a real 
carriage. 
London, J. MILLER. 
9, Southampton-Buildings, Holborn, 
26th August 1824. 
Hieroglyphic System of the Ancient Egyptians. 
(Nov. l, 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Summany of the H1erociyenicat Sys- 
‘tEM of the AncieN't Eoyprians, ds 
established by the result of M. Cham- 
pollion’s recent Researches. 
bear graphical system of the Egyp- 
tians was composed of three spe- 
cies of writings. 
A, Tie hieroglyphical, or sacred writing. 
B. The hieratic, or sacerdotal. 
C. The demotic, or vulgar. 
A. 1. The hieroglyphic, or sacred 
writing, consisted in the simultaneous 
employment of signs of three very dis- 
tinct kinds : 
a. Pictural signs, imitating the object 
which they served to express. 
b. Symbolic, or tropical signs, expressing 
an idea by an image of a physical object, 
which possessed some analogy, true or false, 
direct or indirect, obvious or far-fetched, 
with the idea to be represented. 
c. Phonetic characters, expressing sounds 
by means of the images of physical objects. 
A.2. The pictural and symbolical cha- 
racters are employed in all texts in 
much smaller proportion than the Pho- 
netic characters. 
4,3. The Phonetic characters are 
true alphabetic signs, which express the 
sounds of the words employed in the 
Egyptian spoken language. _ 
A. 4. Each Phonetic hieroglyphic is 
the image of a physical object, the 
name of which, in the Egyptian spoken 
tongue, began by the sound or articu- 
lation, which the image itself is employ- 
ed to express. 
A. 5. The Phonetic characters mu- 
tually combine to form words, like the 
letters of all other alphabets, but are 
often grouped in an uncertain manner, 
according to the disposition of the text, 
whether in perpendicular or. horizontal 
lines. 
A.6. The medial vowels of words, 
written in Phonetic hieroglyphics, are 
often dropped after the manner of the 
Hebrew, Phenician, and modern Arabic 
writing. 
A, 7, Each sound and each articula- 
tion may, in consequence of the rule 
laid down (A. 4.), be represented by 
many different phonetic signs, though 
being homophonous. 
A. 8. The use of any given Phonetic 
character in preference to another ho- 
mophonous in respect to it (or having 
the same sound in the spoken language), 
is often regulated by considerations re- 
sulting from the material, form of the 
sign employed, and by the nature of the 
idea expressed by the word about to be 
written in phonetic characters. 
ote 
