THE LAPSE OF TIME. 103 



Some persons believe, against all probability of 

 evidence, that spoken language was a sudden original 

 inspiration instead of a gradual invention. None, how- 

 ever, assert the right of believing the same thing in 

 regard to letters or written language. The progressive 

 origin of alphabetical signs is admitted on all sides, so 

 that there must have been a time when man had to trust 

 to his fallible memory instead of written memoranda. 

 The growth of picture-writing itself must have been 

 extremely slow, from the difficulty of establishing an 

 agreement as to the meaning of particular representa- 

 tions. What this difficulty amounts to may to some 

 extent be tested any day in a picture-gallery, where 

 all the appliances and skill of modern art are at our 

 service. Without the aid of a descriptive catalogue, 

 it is but seldom that any two accounts of the meaning 

 of the same picture would be found to agree. The art 

 of drawing, it may well be supposed, was not an in- 

 spiration. It had to be invented. The very idea of 

 transmitting a record to future ages would only occur 

 with the advance of civilization. The crumbling surface 

 of the rock, the decaying bark of trees, would be the 

 first perishable and soon obliterated manuscripts. Be- 

 fore account could be taken of months and years, as- 

 tronomy must have made some progress. Before the 

 flow of centuries could be accurately noted, arithmetic 

 must have advanced far beyond the stage at which 

 we still find it among numerous savage nations. An 

 Esquimaux couple, it is said, find it difficult to count 



