A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



human figures face ; (6) that proper names are surround- 

 ed by a graven oval ring, making what he called a 

 cartouche; (7) that the cartouches of the preserved 

 portion of the Rosetta Stone stand for the name of 

 Ptolemy alone ; (8) that the presence of a female figure 

 after such cartouches in other inscriptions always 

 denotes the female sex; (9) that within the cartouches 

 the hieroglyphic symbols have a positively phonetic 

 value, either alphabetic or syllabic; and (10) that sev- 

 eral different characters may have the same phonetic 

 value. 



Just what these phonetic values are Young pointed 

 out in the case of fourteen characters representing 

 nine sounds, six of which are accepted to-day as cor- 

 rectly representing the letters to which he ascribed 

 them, and the three others as being correct regard- 

 ing their essential or consonant element. It is clear, 

 therefore, that he was on the right track thus far, and 

 on the very verge of complete discovery. But, un- 

 fortunately, he failed to take the next step, which 

 would have been to realize that the same phonetic 

 values which were given to the alphabetic characters 

 within the cartouches were often ascribed to them 

 also when used in the general text of an inscription; 

 in other words, that the use of an alphabet was not 

 confined to proper names. This was the great secret 

 which Young missed and which his French successor, 

 Jean Frangois Champollion, working on the foundation 

 that Young had laid, was enabled to ferret out. 



Young's initial studies of the Rosetta Stone were 

 made in 1814; his later publication bore date of 1819. 

 Champollion 's first announcement of results came in 



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