April 12, 1888] 



NATURE 



559 



this institution, where it is found to give highly satisfactory 

 results. Photographs of rj Orionis which have been made with 

 it exhibit the elongation of the star, although the distance 

 between its components is only about l". The newspaper 

 report to which Sir Howard Grubb refers, that a patent was 

 granted for the invention, is without foundation. The Messrs. 

 Clark have never patented any of the improvements made by 

 them in optics, and have had no intention of deviating from 

 their usual practice in this instance. 



Edward C. Pickering. 

 Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, U.S., March 26. 



Life of Fleeming Jenkin. 



I HAVE read with singular pain a paragraph in your notice 

 (signed with the initials of one whom I admire and respect) of 

 my Life of Fleeming Jenkin. To accuse a man of falsehood in 

 private life is a strong step. But I must explain to your reviewer, 

 I might lie to him all day long and not be so disgraced as if I 

 put one single falsehood in a book. For the making of books 

 is my trade by which I live ; I supply them on honour, and the 

 public gives me bread for them in confidence. Your reviewer 

 will perhaps more readily understand what he has done (I am 

 sure in ignorance) if I supply him with a parallel. To say that 

 a man of science was a liar would be highly disagreeable ; but 

 if I were to say he had falsified an experiment, and to say so 

 publicly in print, I should be curious to see the expression of his 

 face. 



I dwell upon this because it is plain your reviewer scarcely 

 understands what literature is, and I fear others may be equally 

 at sea. On the merely personal matter, that I am supposed to 

 tell a deliberate falsehood on my own authority and about my 

 dead friend, I will make but one remark. Hasty reading is the 

 fit precursor of hasty writing ; in no word have I indicated that 

 the certificate in question was "worthy the name"; and the 

 terms of the document are at the reviewer's service to-morrow, 

 if he be curious. Robert Louis Stevenson. 



March 28. 



THE HITTITES, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE 

 TO VERY RECENT DISCOVERIES. 



in. 



'T^HE conclusion has been already expressed that the 

 -■■ Hittite inscription of the Tarkutimme seal is, in 

 the main, ideographic, and that the phonetic element is 

 supplementary ; that, in fact, regarding the figure of the 

 king as part of the inscription, the sense is fully given 

 without taking into account the phonetic element. Some 

 scholars and investigators have, however, taken a different 

 view. This fact, together with the alleged resemblance 

 of some of the Hittite hieroglyphs to characters of the 

 Cypriote syllabary, has had much influence on certain 

 recent attempts at deciphering the Hittite inscriptions. 

 With regard to the alleged analogy of the Hittite and 

 Cypriote characters, it may be allowed that the derivation 

 of the latter from the former is in itself by no means im- 

 possible. As yet, however, the evidence of such deriva- 

 tion which has been presented is certainly inadequate : 

 to a great extent it is little better than visionary. More- 

 over, if, from closeness of resemblance or otherwise, satis- 

 factory proof of the derivation had been given, it would 

 by no means necessarily follow that, when all or any of 

 the Hittite inscriptions which we possess were sculptured, 

 the Hittite writing had become already so far developed 

 that the hieroglyphs generally, or in great proportion, 

 had acquired distinct syllabic values. As to how far 

 resemblances between the Hittite and Cypriote characters 

 give evidence of essential connection or derivation, the 

 reader may perhaps satisfy himself by inspecting the list 

 given by Dr. Isaac Taylor ("The Alphabet," 1883) and 

 reproduced by Prof Sayce in Wright's " Empire of the 

 Hittites," 1886, chap. xi. More extended lists have been 



' Based on Lectures delivered by Mr. Tho.-nas Tyler at the British Museum 

 in January 1888. Conti.nued from p. 540. 



given by Captain Conder (who follows to a considerable 

 extent in the track of Prof Sayce) in the plates of his 

 " Altaic Hieroglyphs." But, as it seems to me, in neither 

 case have the Hittite characters been always given with 

 such essential accuracy as is desirable. This remark 

 applies more especially to some of Captain Conder's 

 figures, notwithstanding his observation in "Altaic 

 Hieroglyphs," p. 35 : "A careless reading and confusion 

 of distinct emblems must lead us wrong ; and for this 

 reason exact copies are indispensable." But, even if this 

 objection be waived, the evidence must still be regarded 

 as inadequate. As to "the subject of the inscriptions," 

 Captain Conder remarks that it "is exactly what we 

 should have expected. They occur on statues of the gods, 

 and they are invocations only" {op. at. p. 149). Now 

 that the inscriptions " occur on statues of the gods " is 

 certainly not true with regard to most t)f those which are 

 known to us, and as we have them. The " doorway inscrip- 

 tion" in the Biitish Museum and the inscriptions from 

 Hamath are connected with no statue whatever. In other 

 cases, where there is a statue, or large figure in relief, it 

 is by no means to be assumed that the figure is always 

 that of a deity. But, as a specimen of what Captain 

 Conder finds in the Hittite inscriptions, I may give his 

 " free rendering " of the first two lines of that very ancient 

 inscription in the British Museum of which I have just 

 spoken as the "doorway inscription." I give Captain 

 Conder's "free rendering" rather than his "verbatim 

 translation," as likely to convey a less unfavourable 

 impression : — 



" I. Prayers of the Monument of Set. Powerful words 

 for the living fire, the Most High . . .the divine. . . . 



" 2. . . . to . . . (pour ?) Tammuz, Aa, living fire. Most 

 High descending (propitious ?) Thee strong Set . . ." 

 ("Altaic Hieroglyphs," p. 194). 



With respect to utterances of this kind it is not neces- 

 sary to say much more than that they certainly have not 

 the claim to consideration which would result from a con- 

 nected and congrous rendering. Such a rendering might 

 have been adduced as giving some answer to the position 

 that evidence is wanting as to the Hittite hieroglyphs 

 representing, in the main, syllables either in the Accadian 

 or Altaic language, or in any other language whatever. 

 Then, as to the inscriptions being concerned mainly or 

 exclusively with theological prayers and invocations, the 

 analogy of the Assyrian inscriptions — which the Tarku- 

 timme seal with its cuneiform legend itself suggests — 

 would rather lead us to expect that the subject-matter of 

 the inscriptions is usually success in war, with allusions to 

 the gods, and prayers and thanksgivings, chiefly in 

 relation to such success. And this more realistic view is 

 in accordance with the heads of oxen and of asses, with 

 the clubs and the swords, and other symbols of equally 

 materialistic character which appear on the inscriptions. 

 Moreover, somewhat more than a year ago, the IBritish 

 Museum fortunately obtained an engraved stone of un- 

 questionable antiquity, giving evidence in accordance 

 with that of the seal of Tarkutimme, and tending to show 

 that the Hittite inscriptions are in the main ideographic 

 or pictorial. 



The allusion just made has reference to a circular 

 haematite seal from Yuzgat, in Asia Minor, which was 

 added to the antiquarian treasures of the Museum in 

 October 1886. Yuzgat is not very far from both Boghaz- 

 Keui and Eyuk ; therefore the discovery in this locality of 

 an important Hittite antiquity can scarcely excite surprise. 

 For the present, the seal is named, most conveniently, 

 from the place where it was found, " the Yuzgat seal." 

 This seal resembles the seal of Tarkutimme in being cir- 

 cular ; and the two seals agree also with reference to there 

 being an inner circle which divides the figures or characters 

 round the circumference from those in the central space. 

 The seals differ, however, in size, the Yuzgat seal being 

 much the smaller. The latter seal, moreover, isnotbilin- 



