ella 
193 
Mr. H. C. Carey read an obituary notice of the late Stephen 
Colwell, pursuant to notice. 
The death of John Edwards Holbrook, M. D., formerly 
Prof. Anat. Med. Coll South Carolina, which took place at 
Norfolk, Mass., Sept. 7, 1871, was announced by the Sec- 
retary. 
The death of Ed. W. Brayley, F. R.S., Feb. 1, 1870, was 
announced by the Secretary. 
A memoir for the Transactions: On the Tours of the Chess 
Knight, by M. Serge de Stchoulepnikoff, was received, with a 
letter from the author, dated Circleville, O., Nov. 8, 1871, and, 
on motion, referred to the following Committee; Prof. George 
Allen, Mr. Pliny E. Chase and General Tilehman. 
A Note on the Footmark in Hieroglyphic Script, by M. F. 
Chabas, of the Institute of France, was read by the Secretary. 
Note of F. Chabas, of the Institute of France, on the Foot-mark in the 
Hieroglyphic Seript. 
I find in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (Vol. 
XI., p. 812) the following statement : 
‘“‘Mr. Lesley referred also to the fact that the ancient Egyptian B was 
graphically represented by the leg, A by the arm, T by the hand, and 
that what is called the comb may have been meant for the foot-mark.’’ 
I am not acquainted with any hieroglyphic character bearing in its 
graphical form a nearer resemblance to a comb than [Mr. Chabas here 
gives the M as in the first King’s name, Mena,] the larger drawings of 
which show manifestly to be a chess or draught-board with its men. 
But the feet occur in the hieroglyphic script, not with a phonetic but. 
with a symbolic worth. They are a mark of the actual presence of the 
delineator. When a pious Egyptian repaired to some place of worship, 
in a distant country, he would sometimes, as a token of his zeal, incise a 
figure of his two feet on some stone in the neighborhood. Similar sculp- 
tures were observable on the terrace of the temple of Khons at Karnak, 
and have been published by M. Prisse d’Avennes; the name, pedigree and 
titles of the pilgrim are generally written close to his sculptured feet, 
which are represented either naked or shoed; in one case they are re- 
placed by the soles or feet-marks. 
This practice was probably very old, but either from the scarcity of 
monuments or the neglect of observers, it can not be traced up in the first 
empire. One of the instances published by M. Prisse refers to the reign 
of Apries. 
F. CHABAS. 
Chalon sur Sane, Oct. 21, 1871. 
A. P. 8.—VOL, XII—Y. 
