242 Memoir of the Life of Dr. Thomas Young. 
by the Society of Antiquaries. Dr. Young first proceeded to exam- 
ine the Enchorial Inscription, and afterwards the sacred characters; 
and, after a minute comparison of these documents, he was enabled 
to attach some “Remarks on Egyptian Papyri, and on the Inserip- 
tion of Rosetta,” containing an interpretation of the principal parts 
of both the Egyptian inscriptions on the pillar, to a paper of Sir 
William Boughton’s, which was published by the Society of Anti- 
quaries in 1815; in the 18th volume of the Archeologia. 
‘Dr. Young now found that he had discovered a key to the lost 
literature of Ancient Egypt. He had occupied himself, though 
without deriving from it the assistance he at first expected, in the 
study of the Coptic and Thebaic versions of the Scriptures; but 
having satisfied himself of the nature and origin of the Enchorial 
character, he produced the result to the world anonymously in the 
useum Criticum of Cambridge, part vi, published in 18153 being 
then determined to prosecute the discovery, but at the same time 
abstaining from claiming it in a more substantive form, from the reso- 
lution he had previously taken to be known only as a medical author. 
‘The labor he bestowed on these investigations, and the minute- 
ness and accuracy with which he copied the papyri and compared 
the materials which came into his hands, would be nearly incredible 
to those who had not access to him whilst employed on this pursuit. 
‘In 1816, he printed and circulated two additional letters relating 
to his hieroglyphical discoveries and the inscription of Rosetta; the 
first addressed to the Archduke John of Austria, who had recently 
been in this country, the other to M. Akerblad. These letters an- 
nounce the progress of the discovery of the relation between the 
Egyptian characters and hieroglyphics, forming the basis on which 
Dr. Young continued his inquiries, as well as of the system after- 
wards carried further in its details by M. Champollion, whose atten- 
tion had long been directed to similar studies, and in which he bas 
since so greatly distinguished himself. The letters were first pub- 
lished when reprinted in the seventh number of the Museum Criti- 
cum, in 1821; and were, with the former letters in that work, be- 
yond all question or dispute, the earliest announcement of the di 
covery of a key toa character which had remained uninterpreted- 
b 
‘The whole results of his discoveries on this subject were first 
brought out in a perfect and concentrated form in the article Ee¥P7» 
the Supplement to the Encyclopedia Britannica, '0 
