1826.] 
‘i ‘5. )WARIETIES, SCIENTIFIC 
“" Bibyloniitin Cylinder: — My. Price, of 
Worcester; to whose valuable labours in the 
field of oriental literature we have occasion- 
ally alluded, particularly with regard to his 
discovery of’ the signification of the arrow- 
headed characters to be met with at Baby- 
loii and Persepolis, has recently favoured us 
with a translation of the inscription upon a 
Babylonian cylinder, of which the annexed 
engraving is an accurate copy, and which 
was in the possession of the late Payne 
Knight, Esq. The cylinder itself is con- 
sidered by Mr. Price to have been a royal 
signet, and of whatever the three figures 
may have been’ emblematieal, the following 
is a translation of the characters beside 
them: ~~ - 
OTHE “MicHTy Emreror *'* * * *,¢ oF 
THE ILLUsTRIOUS Famity OF SHEM, THE 
RAYs OF THE GOD OF RICHES, THE LIVING 
OFFsPRING CF THE GOD or HapprIness, 
THE VITAL SPARK OF THE GOD OF PROs- 
PERITY. 
V2 
From the commencement of the khalifat 
to thie’ decline of the house of Sofi, the Per- 
sian historians have transmitted to posterity 
copious and acéuraté records of the mighty 
révolutions’ of Which Middle Asia was’ the 
theatre. - Unfortunately for the inquisitive 
student, who’ may attempt to explore the 
ancient history of the East through this 
médium, it is’ within these’ limits only that 
the merit of accuracy can be assigned. The 
mighty revolution which fixes the beginning 
of this era, sweeping before it not the ~ 
thrones only, but the religion, the litera- 
ture, and even the language of a great por- 
tion of the world, has left to posterity only 
the “scanty and uncertain traditions which 
survived the general wreck, ‘or the partial 
anid prejudiced notions which have fallen 
from writers of distant and hostile nations. 
What light may be thrown by the discovery 
of Mr. Price upon the ancient page of 
Ori¢iital “history, which conquering barba- 
ridtis have obscured, remains to be seen. 
We are’sanguine enough to hope, that a 
stifficient number of ‘inseriptions have es- 
éd the ravages of time, or more merciless 
ds of men, 'to supply, if not voluminous 
anvial’, at least @ correct chronological cata- 
of ‘the dynasties and monarchs who 
have reigned in the Vast. 
Improved method of Exploding Fire-arms. 
af T he name, ‘being rather mutilated, has been 
omitted. : 
[551 J 
AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
—The ingenious little instantaneous light- 
machine, in whieh, by an air-tight piston 
moving in a cylinder, the’ air contained 
therein becomes so much compressed as to 
give out its caloric in the state of sensible 
heat or fire, ‘has recently been substituted 
for flint and steel, or detonating loeks, for 
the purpose of exploding fire-arms, and @ 
patent obtained accordingly: the cylinder 
is concealed in the stock of the piece, and 
the piston is moved by a powerful helical 
spring. 
Lectures on the Ear.—Mr. T. Harrison 
Curtis, Surgeon- Aurist to the King, reeom- 
menced his Course of Lectures on the Ana- 
tomy, Physiology, and Pathology of the 
Ear, at the Royal Dispensary for Diseases 
of the Ear, Dean-street, Soho-square.— 
The Lecturer combated the unfortunate 
prejudice respecting the incurability of 
Diseases of the Ear, and proved, by his 
own extensive. practice and experience, as 
well as that of the celebrated Professor 
Lallemand, of Montpellier, the mischief 
that had arisen from this idea in conse- 
quence of neglected affections of this organ 
producing chronic diseases of the brain, 
ending most unhappily and frequently from 
_ the inattention of patients themselves.” 
The Lecturer supported this fact. by ex- 
hibiting a variety of Anatomical Prepara- 
tions, shewing the effects and extent of 
neglected disease; but he came to this sa- 
tisfactory conclusion, that Diseases of the 
Ear, like diseases of other organs, will yield 
to proper treatment. 
Hints on the Pronunciation of the Ancients. 
—‘“ The modern Greeks pronounce the fas 
a v consonant, and confound three vowels 
(nev) and several diphthongs. Such was 
the vulgar pronunciation which the stern 
Gardiner maintained by penal statutes in 
the university of Cambridge: but the mo- 
nosyllable @n represented to an attic ear the 
bleating of sheep ; and a bell wether is bet- 
ter evidence than a bishop or a chancellor. 
The treatises of those scholars, particularly 
Erasmus, who asserted a more classical 
pronunciation, are collected in the sylloge 
of “Havercamp (2 vols. 8vo. Lugd. Bat. 
1736—1740): but it is difficult to paint 
sounds by words ; and in their reference to 
modern use, they can be understood only 
by their respective countrymen. We may 
observe, that our peculiar pronunciation of 
the 6, th, is approved by Erasmus (tom. ii. 
p- 130).””— Gibbon’s Rome, chap. 66, 
p. 107. Suidas, we presume, is the autho- 
rity to which Gibbon trusted for @n being 
an imitation of the bleating of sheep, as 
apud Cratinum in Dionys. Alexandro, 6 
MaAibiog rmep meiBalov Rn Bh rEyov Radler. 
This being so, and considering the sound 
uttered by sheep as a standard, the attic 
pronunciation of the » would resemble that 
of the English a in baie, and the é¢ of the 
