344 J)v Prichard's Anniversary Address 



It appears that the Babylonian and Assyrian writing was 

 susceptible of further modifications. A memoir has just been 

 printed on the cuneiform inscriptions of Van in Armenia, 

 written by Dr Hincks of Dublin, whose attention has long 

 been directed to this investigation. These inscriptions were 

 copied in Armenia by the unfortunate Schultz, about twenty 

 years ago. The alphabet used in these inscriptions belongs 

 to the third kind, but differs in some respects from the Baby- 

 lonian and Assyrian varieties. The language is decidedly 

 different from that of the inscriptions at Babylon and Nine- 

 veh. Dr Hincks thinks it closely allied to the Sanskrit. An- 

 tecedent probability would lead us to expect to find it Arme- 

 nian, an idiom which, though of the Indo-European stock, is 

 but very remotely allied to the Sanskrit. 



The investigation of this third sort of cuneiform writing, 

 I mean the Babylonian and Assyrian, is likely to tend 

 hereafter to more important results than have yet been ob- 

 tained ; and it is the more interesting, as the region through 

 which it prevails is the scene of the wondei'ful explorations 

 of M. Botta, and Mr Layard, at Khorsabad, and Nim- 

 roud. The discoveries of Mr Layard are likely soon to be 

 published under the auspices of the curators of the British 

 Museum. Those of M. Botta at Khorsabad are now, as I 

 understand, under the investigation of the learned M. Eugene 

 Burnouf, already well known to have contributed greatly to 

 the eaidiest discovei'ies in cuneiform writing, and the author 

 of a great work on the Ya9na, the litany of the ancient 

 Magi, a portion of the Zendavesta. M. Botta, who explored 

 the remains of art at Khorsabad, supposed to be the ancient 

 Nineveh, has long been employed in preparing a great work 

 on his discoveries, the appearance of which would doubtless 

 have been assisted by the French government, if the late de- 

 plorable events had not thrown the Continent into anarchy, 

 and arrested the progress of social improvement in the world. 

 Some letters from the author to M. Mohl have been published, 

 with 55 plates of sculptures, statues, and inscriptions. M. 

 Botta penetrated into the interior of a vast mound, contain- 

 ing a series of halls and chambers, covered with reliefs and 

 paintings displaying historical events, and representing the 



