270 
calated is neutralized, he brings his investigation to a close, 
in offering some remarks on the merits and usefulness of 
the Julian Period. Having so far established the antiquity, 
order, and intercalation of the quadrienniums, on which the 
year used by the nations that rank as classical is founded, he 
asserts their perfect conformity, in all essential points, to those 
incorporated in that great scale which has conferred such in- 
estimable benefits on chronologists ; and that, while it removes 
from them the reproach of measuring by a rule of which the 
dimensions are vague and indeterminate, furnishes them with 
an instrument by which the nicest computations may be made, 
and the most extraordinary discoveries effected. 
On a Babylonian Tablet in the British Museum, by the 
Rey. Edward Hincks, D. D. 
This paper contains a copy ofa Babylonian tablet, of which 
the following is given as the translation :—‘‘ On the sixth day 
of the month Nisan, the day and the night were equal. Six 
intervals were the day; six intervals were the night. May 
Nebo and Marduk draw near (i.e. be gracious) to the king, 
the lord.” Every word in the inscription is examined sepa- 
rately; and its reading in most instances, and its translation 
in all instances, are given. The intervals spoken of, each of 
which was equal to two of our hours, are shown to have been 
marked by the running out of water or sand; the root from 
which the word signifying such an interval is derived 
having the meaning “to fail.” In the course of the paper 
the Babylonian ordinal, collective, and cardinal numbers are 
treated of, and the linear measures; various errors on these 
subjects being pointed out. In conclusion, the absence of a 
date for the year is accounted for by the supposition that the 
tablets of each year were placed in a compartment with wooden 
sides and bottom ; which having decayed, the tablets fell to 
the ground and were mingled and broken. The date of the 
equinox recorded is shown to have been on the 27th March, 
