158 OCCASIONAL NOTES. 



which he will find abundant information. They are f The 

 Alphabet, an Account of the Origin and Development of 

 Letters/ by Isaac Taylor, London, 1883, 2 volumes, 

 and c Eene bijdrage tot de kennis van' ande Philippijnsche 

 letterschrift/ door H. Kern, the latter essay of the celebrat- 

 ed professor of Leyden, offers a solid critical exposition of 

 the whole question, and must be read together with Pardo 

 de Tavera's essay.'-' 



" The merit of Pardo de Tavera's interesting study consists 

 in the way in which the author follows out the question, with 

 special reference to the Philippines, more closely than his 

 predecessors, and illustrates the question with several ex- 

 amples from the whole Philippine literature." 



" The plate appended to the essay is of special interest, as 

 it represents not less than 12 Philippine alphabets. Numbers 

 11 and 12 are obviously the same alphabet, only executed 

 with different instrument on different material, No. 11 being 

 written with a pen on paper, and No. 12 probably cut in wood 

 with a knife." 



" The Essay is dedicated to Professor B. Blumentritt in Tert- 

 meritz, who is better acquainted with the Philippines than 

 any one else in Germany/' [See also a notice of the Alpha- 

 bets of the Philippine Islands in the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal, XIV, 603, reprinted in Essays relating to 

 Indo-China, (Triibner, 1886), I, 335, and Dr. Eost's note on p. 

 117 of that volume. — Ed.] 



The Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie Commerciale de 

 Paris, (Pome VIII-1885-1886, 4th Fascicule) contains an 

 article on the Singapore Prison. ("Le Nouvel Etablisse- 

 ment Penitentiaire de Singapore" par M. Charles Lemire. j 



