ALP 



ALP 



able persons, after a full examination of 

 the subject, they would not have been 

 filled with such contradictions between 

 the manner of writing- and reading as we 

 have shown above, nor with those imper- 

 fections that evidently appear in the al- 

 phabets of every nation. Mr. Lodowick, 

 however, and Bishop Wilkins, have en- 

 deavoured to obviate all these, in their 

 universal alphabets or characters. See 

 CHARACTER. 



It is no wonder that the number of let- 

 ters in most languages should be so small, 

 and that of words so great, since it ap- 

 pears, that, allowing only 24 letters to an 

 alphabet, the different words or combina- 

 tions that may be made out of them, ta- 

 king them first one by one, then two by 

 two, &.c. &c. would amount to the follow- 

 ing number: 1391, 724288, 887252, 

 999425, 128493, 4022000. See COMBI- 

 NATION. It must be admitted, neverthe- 

 less, that the condition, that every sylla- 

 ble must contain at least one vowel, 

 would modify this number in the way of 

 denomination ; but on the other hand, the 

 combinations in polysyllabic words would 

 operate the contrary way. 



Many learned authors have composed 

 inquiries into the origin of alphabetic 

 writing, and not a few have referred the 

 invention to the immediate inspiration of 

 God. Nevertheless, it appears to be a 

 very simple and direct improvement of 

 the hieroglyphic art. Sensible objects 

 are depicted in outlines by children, and 

 most rude nations ; and, as in the con- 

 struction of languages, so in this writing 

 by figures, substantives will come to be 

 used adjectively, to denote relations or 

 qualities. As words become more com- 

 plex and less perfect by the use of ab- 

 stractions, so likewise must the hiero- 

 glyphic picturesbecome combined and im- 

 perfect, and at length must have denoted 

 things very different from any object ca- 

 pable of being delineated ; and, among 

 other consequences, there is one very 

 striking ; namely, that the picture, after 

 degenerating into a sign or character, will 

 be associated by memory with the oral 

 character, or name, or correspondent 

 word. An immediate step after this must 

 be, that characters associated with mono- 

 syllabic words will be frequently put to- 

 g-ether to form polysyllabic words, in 

 which the picture is left out of the consi- 

 deration, and the sound alone forms the 

 subject of the record, (as if the charac- 

 ters for man and eye were united to form 

 the word many, or multitudinous.) And 

 lastly, habit must in fact have o-iven a 



VOL. r. 



preference, in the composition of these 

 polysyllabic words, to such simple sounds 

 and their characters as were found to be 

 most extensively useful. That is to say, 

 an unintentional process of analysis must 

 have thus given rise to the alphabet. 



The sounds of language are modified 

 by articulation, which depends on certain 

 gross, and in genaral obvious changes in 

 the figure of the organs ; and by accent 

 or mere intensity ; and by intonation or 

 music. The first of these, as used in 

 discourse, is much more capable of having 

 its variations marked by characters than 

 the others; and from this circumstance, 

 it is found that the alphabet can deliver 

 with correctness the words of sach lan- 

 guages as communicate chiefly by articu- 

 lation ; but in languages where the same 

 articulated monosyllable denotes a great 

 variety of things, according to the accent 

 or intonation, there will be comparatively 

 few instances of depicted sound, and the 

 system of writing will continue to be 

 hieroglyphic, or rather symbolic, in all its 

 improvements. This system is, for the 

 reason here mentioned, in use in China, 

 and does not seem inferior to the alpha- 

 bet, but in some respects more advanta- 

 geous. 



ALPHABET is also used for a cypher, 

 or table of the usual letters of the alpha- 

 bet, with the corresponding secret cha- 

 racters, and other blank symbols, intend- 

 ed to render the writing more difficult to 

 be decyphered. See the article DECI- 

 PHERING. 



ALPHABET, among merchants, a kind 

 of index, with the twenty-four letters in 

 their natural order, in which are set down 

 the names of those who have opened ac- 

 counts, referringto the folios of theledger. 



ALPHONSINE tables, astronomical ta- 

 bles, calculated by order of Alphonsus, 

 King of Castile, in the construction of 

 which that prince is supposed to have 

 contributed his own labour. 



ALPINA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Monandria Monogynia class of plants, 

 the corolla whereof is monopetalous, un- 

 equal, and as it were double ; the exte- 

 rior one is trifid, the upper segment is 

 hollow, the two side ones flat, and it has 

 a tube ; the interior is short, its edge is 

 trifid, and the lower segment of the three 

 hangs out beyond the lateral parts of the 

 exterior corolla, the other two are emar- 

 ginated, and the base is ventricose ; the 

 fruit is a fleshy capsule, of an ovated 

 figure, composed of three valves, and 

 containing three cells ; the seeds are nu- 

 merous, of an ovated figure, with a pro- 



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