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Again, it is the infancy, or rather, let us say, the imperfection 

 of man's power of expressing the thought within him, which is 

 the chief cause of the use of symbolism everywhere. It is em- 

 ployed alike in speaking, writing, and painting. All who are 

 accustomed to teaching can tell us the value of a simile, 

 especially in elementary instruction. They well know what 

 number of trite comparisons and cut-and-dried illustrations 

 they are obliged to keep by them as stock-in-trade. It is 

 remarked, again, how great use is made by savage orators of 

 trope and figure, and civilised people, who are unaccustomed to 

 express themselves, or are uneducated, or happen to be dealing 

 with matters they do not perfectly understand, are always having 

 recourse to similes if they have the ingenuity to frame them. 

 In short, symbolism is one great means of expressing imperfect 

 thought or incomplete conception. It is virtually an appeal 

 from one mind to another for assistance or fellowship ; the 

 speaker confesses himself unable to unwind a length of thread, 

 and tries to throw the ball over to his friend, that he may 

 unravel some more. This gives us a definition of symbolism, 

 the attempt to suggest higher, wider, deeper, or more compli- 

 cated ideas by the use of those which are simpler and more 

 familiar." 



The term "symbol" is from the Greek sun ba//o } to put or 

 cast together, and originally meant the corresponding part of a 

 tally, ticket, or coin cut in twain. The person who presented 

 the piece which fitted showed a " symbol " of his right to what 

 he claimed. 



It is not my intention to do more than touch upon the ancient 

 use of symbols, but I cannot refrain from mentioning some em- 

 ployed by the ancient Egyptians, a species of hieroglyphic 

 writing. Phre or Phrah (our Pharaoh) meant the sun, and was 

 the title of the Egyptian monarch, the hieroglyph for which was 

 a point within a circle. It was also an emblem of God, because 

 His centre is everywhere, and His circumference is immeasurable. 

 The serpent signified wisdom, and turned in a circle it denoted 

 eternity. The symbol of the life to come was a cross and a 



