INSCRIPTIONS INSTITUTE. 



niuler and his successors, even into the remote East. 

 l lit- (in ck language appears on n great number of 

 monuments in this extensive region, written in 

 nt characters, according to the age of the 

 uiMTi|>iioii, and in different dialects in different 

 riuiuirie*. The Doric dialect is perceptible in 

 Ktnumentt of Dorian colonies, and so with 

 ilif others. In this manner, where there are two 

 iiies or artists of the same name, it may be d-lT- 

 miiird to which the work of art should be attributed 

 . tiif dialect of the inscription. The forms of the 

 i ri-t-k Inters underwent some changes, which must be 

 attended to in the study of inscriptions: the absence or 

 admission of certain letters (as II and n), the different 

 forms of the sigma (2, C, or S), of the epsilon (as E 

 or *), of the O (as round or square, D), of the lambda 

 ^is A or L), &c., may aid in determining the age of 

 a monument. The early inscriptions are often from 

 riuhi to left, sometimes in the boustrophedon (q. v.), 

 which was abandoned about the middle of the fifth 

 century before Christ. (See the 8th vol. of the The- 

 *'iitr Antiq. Greec. of Gronovius; the works of Po- 

 rcx-ke, Chandler, and other travellers; Montfaucon's 

 I'uleeographia Grteca; Mem. de V Academic des In- 

 scriptions.) The Etruscan inscriptions, on vases and 

 monuments, have occasioned much dispute among 

 the learned. Niebuhr, in his Roman History, says, 

 iiiui the assertion of Dionysius, that the Etruscans 

 -jM.ke a peculiar language, deserves full credit, since 

 ii was, in his time, a living language; and it is fully 

 > iiinirined by the inscriptions extant, in the words of 

 which no analogy with the Greek or Latin can be 

 dftected; and he adds in a note, that, among all the 

 Etruscan words of which explanations have been 

 pretended, only two have been really explained. 

 See, however, Lanzi's Saggi di Lingua Etrusca 

 (Home, 1789, 3 vols.); Gori's Museum Etruscum; 

 and Inghirami's Monument. Etruschi (1826). From 

 the Eugubian Tables, discovered in 1444, Buonarotti, 

 Gori, and others endeavoured to form an alphabet : 

 the former tiiought he had discovered twenty-four, 

 the latter sixteen letters. The Latin inscriptions 

 are the most frequently met with. They are found on 

 monuments of all descriptions ; some very ancient 

 ones are yet preserved. (See Graevius's Thesaur. 

 Antiq. Rom., vol. 4, and Fabricius's Bibliotheca La- 

 tina, lib. iv. c. 3.) Inscriptions are called bilingual, 

 when the cliaracters are taken from two different lan- 

 guages, as was sometimes done by the vanquished 

 people, in compliment to their conquerors. Inscrip- 

 tions are sometimes repeated in different languages, 

 or in different characters, on the same monument; as, 

 for instance, in the language of the province and in 

 the Greek or I.;. tin, in the times of the Greek and 

 Roman empires. Some of the general collections of 

 inscriptions are, Grater's Inscriptions antiquae, 

 Cura Greevii (Amsterdam, 1707, 2 vx)ls., folio) ; 

 Muratori's Thesaurus Vet. Inscrip. Milan, 1739, 4 

 vols.) Consult, also, the works of Selden, Prideaux, 

 Chandler, and Mattaire on the Parian (Arundelian) 

 marbles (q. v.); the Archaologia Britannica 1779 to 

 1822, 21 vols., 4to; the Memoires de I' Academic des 

 Inscriptions ; and the numerous works on particular 

 countries, cities, or collections. See Medal, Vase, 

 Obelisks, Pyramids, &c. 



INSCRIPTIONS, ACADEMY OF. See Academy. 



INSECTIVORA; animals which live, or are 

 thought to live, on insects. Divisions of this sort 

 cannot be very exact. Some insectivora drink blood 

 with delight, or eat grass occasionally, and some of 

 the beasts of prey, whose principal food is larger 

 game, are fond of flies. Among birds, the insectivora 

 Form a very numerous class. 



INSECTS. See Entomology. 



INSOLVENCY. See Bankrupt. 



INSTANCE. On the European continent, a court 

 is said to l>e of the first instance, when it has original 

 jurisdiction of a case; of the second instance, when it 

 has appellate jurisdiction from a lower court ; of the 

 third instance, when it has appellate jurisdiction from 

 courts of the second instance. In some cases, gene- 

 rally criminal, a court may be of the first or second 

 instance, according to the place where the process 

 was begun; for instance, if a man is tried in Prussia 

 for a high crime, and found guilty, he appeals, and 

 the case is sent to another criminal court, chosen by 

 the government, which, in this case, is of the second 

 instance; while, in the next case, perhaps, the situa- 

 tion of the two courts may be reversed. To absolve 

 ab instantia means to absolve a person from an ac- 

 cusation, without carrying through the process. 



INSTINCT (from the Latin instinctus); that im- 

 pulse, produced by the peculiar nature of an animal, 

 which prompts it to do certain things, without being 

 directed, in acting thus, by reflection, and which is 

 immediately connected with its own individual pre- 

 servation, or with that of its kind. Thus the new- 

 born duck hastens to the water, the infant sucks, 

 without being taught to do so; all animals eat when 

 they feel hunger, drink when they are thirsty, by in- 

 stinct. All the instincts of animals are directed to the 

 preservation either of the individual or of the genus. 

 They appear in the selection of food, avoiding of 

 injurious substances, taking care of their young, and 

 providing for them before they are born; as the bird, 

 for instance, builds its nest to receive its future pro- 

 geny. The instinct of motion, and the opposite 

 instinct, which compels the bird, for instance, to 

 remain on her eggs at the period of incubation, are 

 equally strong. The building of dwellings is, in the 

 case of many animals, a highly curious exercise of 

 instinct; as, for instance, in the case of the beaver 

 and the bee. They are evidently actuated by instinct, 

 as they always succeed the first time they attempt it. 

 Certain instincts lead to certain changes ; for instance, 

 to migrating, or to coupling at certain times, to build- 

 ing nests, and expelling the young when they are 

 fledged, and able to take care of themselves. In- 

 stinct sometimes misleads; as, for instance, the fly 

 lays its eggs in the flower of the stapelia hirsuta, 

 deceived by the smell of this plant, which resembles 

 that of meat in a state of putrefaction. The young, 

 in this case, perish for want of food. Two things are 

 worthy to be remarked. Men often act from instinct, 

 when least aware of it, and often explain actions in 

 other animals, by instinct, in which they cannot be 

 actuated by it, but in which memory, and the power 

 of combination, must necessarily be supposed. Num- 

 berless anecdotes of dogs prove this. The intelligence 

 of animals is an extremely interesting subject, and 

 though there are several highly valuable works on it, 

 yet.it is far from having been thoroughly investigated. 



INSTITUTE, THE NATIONAL. This learned 

 body, which was organized after the first storm of 

 the French revolution, during which all the acade- 

 mies of learning and arts in France had perished, 

 was formed by the decree of the 3d Brumaire of the 

 year 4, from the Academic Francaise, the Academic 

 des Sciences, and the Academic des Belles Lettres et 

 Inscriptions. Its object was the advancement of the 

 arts and sciences by continual researches, by the 

 publication of new discoveries, and by a correspon- 

 dence with the most distinguished scholars of all 

 countries, and especially by promoting such scientific 

 and literary undertakings as would tend to the na- 

 tional welfare and glory. The institute was com- 

 posed of a number of members residing at Paris, and 

 an equal number of associates (associes) in the dif- 

 ferent parts of the republic. Each class could also 

 choose eight learned foreigners as associates. II 



