288 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO l686. 



cerning the method of their character, whether it consisted of a certain num- 

 ber of marks methodically disposed like letters in a literal, or like numbers in a 

 numeral, or like radicals in composite and decomposite derivations. This cha- 

 racter is said to be legible into a great many languages, considerably different 

 from each other; but how this is effected, is not related, only it is said that the 

 marks are of the nature of our arithmetical figures, which are become almost 

 universal, at least here in Europe. Secondly, as to the number of these cha- 

 racters, I found as little satisfaction ; for, some accounts making them 1 20000, 

 others 80000, and others 6000O; and" that a man must be able to remember, 

 and to write, and read at lest 8000, or 10000, before he can express his mean- 

 ing by them, and that it is the business of a man's whole life to be thoroughly 

 intelligent in the whole character ; which seems to intimate that the characters 

 are immethodical, and there are as many primitive characters as words. Others 

 tell us of various kinds of characters, which have been in use in several ages : 

 the first, they say, were hieroglyphical, like the Egyptian or Mexican, consist- 

 ing of pictures of animals and vegetables. But the last are made up of lines 

 and points, there being no such thing as letters or syllables, but every distinct 

 word and notion has a distinct character, and they are all primitive or in com- 

 posite. Which accounts seem to insinuate, that this character is the most 

 difficult, and the most perplexed piece of learning in the world, and depends 

 wholly on the strength of the memory in retaining their form and signification. 

 But from my own observations, there seems reason to doubt of the accuracy of 

 these accounts. For, in the first place I observed, that every one of their 

 characters, whether consisting of more or fewer strokes, was comprised within a 

 certain square space, which is proportioned according to the size or manner of 

 writing they design to make use of; not that the whole square is filled with 

 every character, but that no part of that character exceeds the limits of that 

 square; so that though the character have but one stroke, it takes as much 

 room in the line as another that has 20 or 30 several marks; and thus their 

 characters are exactly ranged in rank and file, not unlike our numbers in arith- 

 metic. 



Yet they vary the size of the character on several occasions ; as in the titles 

 of books, chapters, or sections, &c. I have also met with three several kinds 

 of characters : the most usual is the fixed, or set square form ; the second sort 

 is the running hand, in which the orders of the courts are written, of which I 

 have seen 3 or 4 kinds, in which the pencil is never taken off till the whole 

 character be finished; and sometimes 2 or 3 are all written without break: the 

 third seems to be somewhat like the flourishing great letters used by scriveners 

 at the beginning of deeds, and by the Germans at the beghining of chapters 



