814 EEPORT 1891. 



The addition to the measurements of the prints of the impressions of the fingers, 

 recently recommended by Mr. Francis Galton, would, in the author's opinion, be 

 very valuable for personal identification. In conclusion the hope is expressed 

 that Bertillon's system will soon be introduced into general use in this country. 



4. Recent Hittite Discoveries. By Dr. Phen^, F.8.A. 



A careful description of the monuments now known to be Hittite, but which 

 term had not been used when Dr. Van Lennep wrote, was given, and Dr. Phen6 

 was able to draw inferences from the examination of the monuments before they 

 were known to be Hittite, and the new light which Professor Sayce, Su- Charles 

 Wilson, and Professor Ramsay have thrown upon them. This was very interesting, 

 as the older drawings by Texier and other travellers were found very much more 

 to support the description by Herodotus than some of the new ones. And, while 

 they all alike tended to confirm the fact that they belonged to a special people, 

 who had a style of writing of their own, and which people and writings are now 

 known under the term * Hittite,' there was every reason to suppose the figures at 

 Nymphi were those of the Egyptian king, Ramses II., known also as Ramses the 

 Great, and also as Ramses — Sesostris, although ' Sesostris ' was not found on his 

 monuments, and was perhaps a family name. Dr. Phen(5 gave his own reading of 

 the symbols at Nymphi as follows : — The symbols are a crouching bird on a level 

 with the face of the victorious Sesostris, and close to it a sceptre ; above it a sign 

 frequently found in Hittite mscriptions, of a stafi" with smaller ones on each side, 

 which symbol he considered was equivalent to the people — i.e. of high and low 

 degree ; and following this a broken sceptre. The bird usually found in Hittite 

 inscriptions, as at Jerabis, is the eagle, and the position is one of majesty, which 

 he considered implied kingly power, and hence the crouching and humbled bird 

 was a king bereft of his power. The metaphor is purely Oriental, and in continual 

 use in the Hebrew writings, ' a bird of the air shall tell the matter ' — ' mine 

 enemies chased me like a bird ' — ' they shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt,' 

 meaning clearly, escaped from the crushing power of Egypt. The broken reed or 

 sceptre is also continually used as a sign of weakened power, so that reading from 

 right to left the sj^mbols read — The bird announces to the conqueror — ' The sceptre, 

 great conqueror, is yours ' ; * Great and small (i.e. the nobles and people) follow ; the 

 sceptre of the vanquished is broken.' Several other of Dr. Phene's readings, as of the 

 inscription on Mount Sipylus, were given, as very strongly to support the views of 

 Mr. Dennis as to this sculpture being the goddess Cybele, and not Niobe, and Dr. 

 Phene produced an ancient mace procured by him in Sivas, the head of which was 

 the same symbol, as appears in the inscription near the figure. Dr. Phen6 referred 

 to the valuable comparison of Hittite and Cypriote letters made by Professor 

 Sayce at the suggestion of Canon Taylor, and pointed out that the least powerful 

 one — that of o = u — was not only capable of amendment, but of being put beyond 

 question, as besides the evidence used by Professor Sayce, the actual V of the 

 Cypriotes appears in the Hittite inscription on Mount Sipylus. The author 

 further expressed his opinion that the figures at lasili, Kaia, &c., were older than 

 the Assyrian sculptures, and that in them were the ideas carried out in Assyrian 

 art. The figures standing upon the animal forms in the Hittite carvings being 

 finally combined with the animals in the Assyrian work. Dr. Phend's attention 

 was, however, more engaged with a remarkable Cyclopean temple on the Star 

 mountain near Tokat than with the rock sculptures, which, when he visited them 

 (and nearly all of which are illustrated in Dr. Van Lennep's book), were generally 

 considered as a low class of Assyrian or Persian art. 



One of the most important points of this journey had been the investigation of 

 Cyclopean buildings, and this grandly elevated temple, which is semicii'cular in 

 form, corresponds exactly with others he has found, one of which is in the centre 

 of the Island of Minorca. The one in Anatolia, which he considers was the great 

 temple of the district, is in the locality of the most ]'emarkable Hittite sculptures. 

 It is on the most westerly and the largest of a number of mounds running from 

 east to west in a serpentine course. In conclusion. Dr. Phen6 described two 



