ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE PARIS EXPOSITION IN 1889. 671 



should be invented, and thus, little by little, the art of writiug grew to 

 its present perfection. In the hieroglyphic system each sign repre- 

 sented an idea which, being in the mind of the maker, would be recog- 

 nized and understood by the reader. 



For the specimens of Chinese hieroglyphic writiug the visitor was 

 requested to see the adjoiuing section in ethnography, where Chinese 

 industries, arts, etc., especially that of printing, were displayed at 

 length. 



Cuneiform writing. — Cuneiform writiug was, like that of the Chinese, 

 composed in its origin of figures that have become, little by little, 

 unrecognizable. Their primitive form is fouud in the most ancient 

 Chaldean iuscriptious. The principal varieties of Cuneiform writings 

 are the Chaldean, which lasted until the fall of Babylon. The Assyrian 

 and Persian seem to have been simplified from an Arian language. 



8 and 8£. Bricks from Babylon. One bearing- the seal of Nebuchadnezzar stamped in 

 the soft brick before it was burnt. Translation— "Nebachaduezzar, King of 

 Babylon, King of Nations, Grand King, Servant of the Great God, Restorer 

 of the Towersand the Pyramids, I." One showing the bitumen still attached 

 which had served as cement. 



9. Assyrian writing — Obelisk of Nimrod, built by Salmanazar II, about 830 B. C. 



This celebrated monument represents the kings bringing tribute and mak- 

 ing submission to Salmanazar. Men are carrying bars of precious metal. 

 There are the elephant, horse, camel, aud gigantic apes. Among the tribu- 

 taries shown in the second register is the King of Israel Jehu prostrate before 

 the feet of the King of Assyria. Underneath is the legend : Jehotia bin Otnri 

 (Jehu Son of Omri). Cast. The original is in the British Museum. 



Rittite Hieroglyphs. — These are anterior to the year 1000 B. C. 



10. Lion found by his excellency Hamdg-bey at Marach, Asia Minor. Cast given 



by the Musee of Ethnography of Trocadero. The original is at the Impe- 

 rial Museum, Constantinople. 



It is scarcely 20 years since the discovery of the first inscription of these 

 characters. Since then the number has increased, but without being yet 

 deciphered. It appears to have been used before the inveution of the alpha- 

 bet by the people on the borders of Syria. On this lion one can see the gross 

 hieroglyphic characters covering its body. 



Egyptian ivriting. — Egyptian writing is the most perfect of the hiero- 

 glyphic system. It was the forerunner of the alphabet. It is presented 

 in three forms — the writiug hieroglyphic, hieratic, aud demotic. The 

 hieroglyphs have preserved with a remarkable fidelity the primitive 

 form of the ancient ideograi>hs, which, oii the contrary, disappear 

 almost entirely in the hieratic and demotic writiug. The latter are the 

 forms most altered from the hieroglyphs. The most celebrated speci- 

 men of this system was the 



11. Rosetta stone, with its corresponding paragraphs in hieroglyphic, demotic, and 



Greek, each being a translation of the other. 



This was found in 1799, during the French expedition to Egypt, by an 

 officer of artillery named Boussard. The name of the King — Ptolemy — was 



