AND THE INVENTION OP ALPHABETS. 



ing of a stream, &c. that are not adapted to the human organs of 

 utterance. 



It would be digressing too far from our subject, to enter into a 

 discussion concerning the number of sounds that are known to 

 exist, nor is this necessary; for as sounds are few, the marks for 

 them need not be many j but marks for things are very nume- 

 rous. 



It is however requisite for our readers to distinguish betxveen vi. 

 sible and audible language. This distinction is justly made by St. 

 Augustine in the following words : " Signa sunt verba visibilia, 

 verba signa audibilia." 



The articulate sounds of vocal or audible language are resolvable 

 into sentences, words, and syllables ; and the analysis of language 

 into elementary sounds, seems first to have led to the invention of 

 symbols, or marks, for mental conceptions. This invention must 

 have taken place much about the time that men began to reform 

 the barbarous jargon they first spoke, and form a language ; for 

 which purpose, the knowledge of elementary sounds and their 

 powers, was absolutely necessary. The progress in this science, 

 as has been already observed, must have been by degrees : men 

 would begin no doubt, by distinguishing the sound of one word 

 from that of another, this would not be difficult ; then they would 

 resolve words into syllables, which would not be so easy : but it is 

 likely that they stopt there for a long time, perhaps for ages, be. 

 fore they came to the last resolution of sjllables into the distinct 

 sounds of which they are composed. This was a very extraor- 

 dinary work of art, which could only be performed by those who 

 had consideied the laws of sounds; and could not be the result of 

 chance, as some speculaiists have imagined; for this was in fact, 

 the decomposition of a language into the sounds of which it was 

 composed. 



The next step towards the notation of language, would be the 

 delineation of a separate mark or letter to di note or stand for each 

 sound ; which marks though few in number, would admit of so 

 great a variety of arrangements and combinations, as would be ca- 

 pable of producing an infinity of articulate sounds, sufficient for 

 the composition of syllables, words, and sentences ; and conse- 

 quently for the notation of language. 



That able mathematician Tacquet informs us, that the various 

 combinations of the twenty. four letters (without any repetition) 



2 A4 



