IMITATIVE AND SYMBOLICAL. 



27d 



or concealed, instead of an exoteric or general, meaning to each, it would 

 form a language of impenetrable privacy — a language from which every one 

 would be shut out excepting those who might be in possession of its key. 



The persons to whom we should chiefly look for learning and science in 

 the state of the world to which I am at present adverting would be the priest- 

 hood; or that elevated order which, among all uncultivated nations, con- 

 centrates in itself the three professions of law, medicine, and theology. It 

 is among this order, therefore, that we should chiefly expect to meet with 

 proofs of both these kinds of visible language ; and hence, both kinds might 

 also be fairly denominated mEuoGLYPmc writing, or that of sacred impressions. 

 Thus, indeed, they have been denominated generally; the pure picture-writing- 

 being distinguished by the term curiologic hieroglyphs ; and the allegorical, 

 typical or symbolic hieroglyphs. 



Such kinds of picture-language, however, even with this improvement, 

 must be attended with very considerable labour; and hence, from a desire to 

 abbreviaie that labour, we may readily conceive that the pictures or imitative 

 characters would soon become simplified and contracted. 



The idea of a man, formerly represented by his whole figure, might now be 

 signified by his legs alone, as a simple acute angle, like a Greek a, which is 

 the written character for a man in the Chinese tongue, the whole figure being 

 supposed to have been employed at first ; that of hand, formerly represented 

 by a perfect drawing of this' organ, might be contracted into a Greek 4-, or 



rather the figure of Vp , which is the old Chinese expression for this purpose, 



being a rude or rapid outline of the wrist, palm, and fingers; while the idea 

 of UNION or friendship, at first denoted by two such figures conjoined, as 



might subsequently be abbreviated into , which, in like manner, is the old 



Chinese written sign for both these ideas. Ingenuity, thus set to work, 

 would soon be able to form a like device for the auxiliary parts of speech ; 

 concerning which it may be suflicient to observe, that most of the preposi- 

 tions might be expressed by some simple mark, whose precise meaning should 

 be determined by its relative situation. Thus a plain horizontal stroke, as — , 

 placed at the foot of a noun, might import under it, and at its head above it ; 

 which is, in fact, the very device had recourse to in the old written language 

 of China ; so that the sign for measure, with a horizontal line over it, imports 

 ABOVE measure, and below it, under measure ; while, in the ordinary mark for 

 HAND, as noticed above, the cross line is turned to the left to express left- 



hand, as ^ , and to the right to express right-hand, as ; for both which, 



however, a somewhat diflferent form is used in the present day. 



In this manner picture-characters or images would insensibly become con- 

 verted into arbitrary characters ; which, to those acquainted with the mean- 

 ing of the different marks, would answer the purpose as well, and would have 

 an incalculable advantage in the facility of writing them. 



We have now reached the utmost pitch of perfection which the legible 

 language of things is, perhaps, capable of attaining. It has one superiority 

 over that of words, or marks characteristic of sounds; namely, that when 

 the pictures are drawn at full length, or, if abbreviated, where the key of the 

 abbreviation is known, it is a species of writing addressed to all nations, and 

 may be interpreted without a knowledge of their oral tongues. It speaks by 

 painting and appeals to what all are acquainted with. And hence M. Leib- 

 nitz, and many other philosophers, have conceived an idea that a system of 

 pasigraphy or universal writing, a language of human thoughts, might be 

 founded* upon some such invention. 



It is easy to perceive, however, without any detail of facts, that such a 

 system could never be carried into full effect among diflferent nations : and 

 that, plausible as it may appear at first sight, it must be loaded with incon- 

 veniences, and be equally defective and burdensome, even among people of 



• See here also Northman's Panography, Repertory of Ai-ts. ii. 307, iii. 91 . Langlois's Pantograph, Mach. 

 A. vu. 207. Lodwicic's Umversal Alphabet. 



