78 MAJOR C. R. CONDER, D.C.L., R.E., 
or the Semitic with which I am acquaited. I also venture 
to remind Mr. Pinches and Mr. Boscawen that my system of com- 
parison does not depend solely on the comparison of nouns, but on 
a detailed study of the grammar of the Hittite texts, which is a 
safer guide than vocabulary alone. As regards the cuneiform 
letters sent to Egypt, an interpreter was sent with them, which, if 
they were understood all over Western Asia, perhaps would hardly 
have been necessary. I have nothing further to add except with 
regard to the study of ideographs. The study of ideographs, of 
course, is quite a distinct study from that of sounds or of grammar. 
If I found that a certain Hittite ideograph only compared with 
an ideograph in one other system, I should not attach great im- 
portance to it; but when I find that one and the same emblem 
is used in Egyptian, in Cuneiform, and in the oldest Chinese to 
which we have access, it seems to me a fair presumption that ideo- 
graphs of similar form may have been used with a similar meaning 
in Hittite. It may be that they were all independently invented ; 
but it may also be that these resemblances are due to a common 
origin. Whichever be the true reason, we may, I think, obtain 
some idea of the value of Hittite emblems, by seeing what their 
ideographic value is in other systems. There is no doubt, I think, 
that the Vannic emblems are partly phonetic and partly ideo- 
graphic, but I have not been able to find that they have anything 
to do with the civilisation of Western Asia. I thank those who 
have taken the trouble to come here to give us the benefit 
of their opinions on the subject, and I think if they themselves 
were to take the subject up, and take the common emblems 
which we have in the Hittite, and trace them through all the 
inscriptions, as I have done, they would probably find they would be 
able to further the question more than I can claim to have 
done with my elementary knowledge (applause). 
The Cuatrman.—I think it is not necessary for me to trouble you 
with any remarks. Some have occurred to me upon curious 
specimens of Hittite work, but at this period of the evening I will 
not trouble you with any of them. I can only convey to the author 
of the paper the thanks of all present for his very interesting paper, 
and to those who have joined in the discussion, which has been a 
satisfactory one, I think, because of the little differences of opinion 
that have arisen, and which have brought out a vast amount of 
learning. I hope all our papers will be as successful. 
The Meeting was then adjourned. 
