HIE i 



Hiro, has a haven, and contains about 50 inhabitants. The 



*J>ij'. v - other island is about three quarters of a league to the 



_j_ ^, east of 1'orticros. It has fewer inhabitants, and is less 



fertile than the rest. All these islands may be seen from 



the town of I litres. 'They are defended by small forts, 



and are covered with Ltvender and strawberries. They 



are frequently visited by parties of pleasure from the 



town. See Fischer's l\i-me naclt Ilyres. 



HIERO. See SYRAI i 



i HERO'S CHOWN. See HYDRODYNAMICS. 



HIEROGLYPHICS, ( from .{.?, sacred, and y Ap, 

 to cari'f,) properly sculptures or carvings, (and hence, 

 by nil easy and obvious transition, fwntiuisx also,) sym- 

 bolically denoting, by particular figures and collocations 

 of external or corporeal objects, sacred, moral, and reli- 

 gious truths. 



Hieroglyphics may be considered as a species, of 

 which symbol is the genus ; for hieroglyphics are a par- 

 ticular class of symbols, differing however from other 

 symbols, as well by the nature of the truths of which 

 . they arc the signs, as by the mysterious and recondite 



mode in which these truths are exhibited. The truths 

 denoted by hieroglyphics properly relate not to com- 

 mon or trivial objects, but to things sacred or divine ; 

 and the mode of exhibiting these is designedly obscure 

 and enigmatical, requiring sagacity and acuteness, as 

 well as patient attention, to develope their meaning. 



The origin of hieroglyphical writing has generally 

 been derived from Egypt ; and undoubtedly it appears 

 to have been there that hieroglyphics first assumed the 

 form of a regular system. But, in fact, the first steps 

 in the formation and employment of hieroglyphic em- 

 blems, may be traced as nearly coeval with the earliest 

 attempts of mankind to communicate their thoughts by 

 visible marks, in addition to articulate sounds. In such 

 attempts, it seems plain, that the first, as being the 

 most natural, way of accomplishing the end, would be 

 by presenting a picture or delineation of the object to 

 be denoted. To express a man, an animal, or a tree, 

 the figure of the object would be drawn and exhibited. 

 To intimate that a man had been slain by a wild beast, 

 the figure of a man stretched on the earth, and the ani- 

 mal standing over him, would be formed ; to indicate 

 that a hunter had caught his prey, the picture of the 

 man with the prey in his hands would be given. Such 

 was probably the earliest mode of writing. It is the 

 opinion of the best informed writers, that it prevailed 

 among the Phoenicians, Egyptians, and other early com- 

 munities ; and we know with certainty, that it was in 

 use among the Mexicans when invaded by the Spa- 

 niards, intelligence of their arrival having been trans- 

 mitted to the emperor in a picture, and even the histo- 

 ry of the empire having been delineated by paintings 

 upon skins, afterwards found in one of the temples. 



This way of communicating thoughts, however, was, 

 of necessity, liable to much inconvenience. It was of- 

 ten difficult, and generally bulky. To lessen the toil, 

 and abridge the size of the picture, different modes of 

 abbreviation were resorted to. The principal part of 

 the object might first be made to stand for the whole ; 

 as the head for the man, a hand holding a weapon for 

 a warrior. Next, the principal circumstance in a com- 

 plicated action might denote the entire action ; two or 

 more hands, with weapons opposed, might denote a 

 battle ; a scaling-ladder, set against a wall, a siege. 

 In a short time, a farther improvement would occur; 

 to put the instrument of an action for the thing 

 itself, as, we are informed by Hori Apollo, two feet 

 standing in water represented the lulling of cloth. 

 S 



12 HIE 



Nearly connected with this, was the practice of de- 

 noting the efficient cmise by the effect produced ; 

 as harvest, by a sheaf of corn winter, by a leafless 

 tree hostile incursion, by ruined buildings and dead 

 bodies. 



From these different kinds of contracted characters, 

 the transition was easy to the third stage in the pro- 

 gress of writing ; to make one thing represent another, 

 where any resemblance sufficiently striking between 

 the two objects could be perceived. To this mode of 

 communication it became frequently necessary to have 

 recourse. Intellectual objects of every kind ; the pas- 

 sions and feelings of men ; the moral qualities of ac- 

 tions, admit of no direct delineation by picture, they 

 must therefore be represented, if represented at all, by 

 sensible objects, to which they either bear, or are sup- 

 posed to bear, some resemblance. Under the view of, 

 such analogies, wisdom was signified by an ye ; in- 

 gratitude, by a viper biting the hand that offered it food ; 

 courage, by a lion; cunning, by a serpent. This con- 

 stitutes what may properly be termed the si/mbnlic 

 mode of writing. It is in some measure analogous to 

 that stage in the progress of speech observed among 

 all rude tribes, where figures, tropes, and metaphors, 

 fill up a great portion of every harangue. 



This mode of writing is founded on resemblances 

 perceived or supposed; and as it is difficult to set limits 

 to the power of imagination in discovering or figuring 

 resemblances, it might be supposed that the symbolic 

 mode of writing could be carried to an indeterminate 

 extent. But in fact it has its limits; it must be under- 

 stood if it is to be useful at all; the resemblance, there- 

 fore, must be either obvious and discerned by mere in- 

 tuition, or so generally perceived and recognised, that 

 the persons to whom it is addresed may easily pass 

 from the sign to the thing signified. If the resem- 

 blance be very recondite and remote, if the analogy is 

 traced from qualities not generally observed, the sym- 

 bolic writing becomes proportionally obscure, and to 

 the uninstructed not even intelligible. 



It is thus, by a natural progress, that we can trace 

 the origin of hieroglyphics. Mere picture writing was 

 an obvious invention ; contraction of picture writing 

 was probably taught by necessity : symbols required 

 the exercise of imagination ; at first, probably, plain 

 and perspicuous, they soon became more complicated 

 and obscure. 



Among a people who had no mode of representing 

 their thoughts but by means of figures or characters of 

 this description, the very progress of knowledge, or the 

 extension of enquiry beyond the mere objects of sense 

 or immediate observation, could not fail both to add to 

 the number, and augment the obscurity of the symbo- 

 lic signs made use of. New discoveries, new truths, 

 new subjects of thought, required appropriate and ex- 

 pressive symbols ; these might either be drawn from 

 objects not nitherto delineated, or figures previously 

 in use might be employed, arranged in forms and col- 

 locations remote from their former delineations. In 

 either way it would follow, that to persons unacquaint- 

 ed with the very subjects to which the signs related, 

 the symbols, until explained, would present confused 

 and unintelligible groups. It was in this manner that 

 the universe, or universal nature, came to be denoted 

 by a winged globe, with a serpent issuing from it ; and 

 a serpent itself was made to represent the divine nature, 

 on account of its supposed vigour and spirit, its great 

 age, and the reverescence ascribed to it. 



Hieroglyphics then are only an extension of picture 



Hierogly- 

 phics. 



