FT. in. Progress and Civilisation. 129 



will find that beyond the simplest ideas of form and 

 colour, sound or taste, which are the direct impres- 

 sions made upon the senses, all ideas of a more 

 complex character must be embodied either mentally 

 or orally in words in order to enable the individual 

 to conceive them. This consideration will assist us 

 in estimating the immeasurable importance of that 

 greatest of human inventions the Alphabet. How 

 curious that this great step in human acquirement 

 is now synonymous with the very lowest rudiments 

 of learning ? The youngest child is expected to know 

 its letters as soon as or often before it can speak, 

 and yet it is the mightiest single stride that the 

 human mind ever made in its progress towards a 

 higher state of knowledge. Let us suppose the first 

 inventor of the Alphabet, whoever he might have 

 been, coming forward in some assembly of elders or 

 sages, and exhibiting a handful of black marks traced 

 upon any substance, and saying, ' With these figures 

 I can express all my wants, all my wishes, all my 

 ideas ; I can make them convey the most delicate 

 shades of thought, and embody them in a durable 

 shape ; I can describe scenes and events with such 

 accuracy that my auditors may almost fancy that 

 they have themselves witnessed them ; I can transmit 



K 



