40 M. Arago on the Egyptian Hieroglyphical Writings. 



already been the theatre of many and most animated discussions. 

 For a moment I hesitated to encounter those passions which the 

 subject has excited. I was tempted to conclude, that the secre- 

 tary of an Academy which is exclusively devoted to the exact 

 sciences, might really, without any impropriety, hand over this 

 philological discussion to judges who were more competent to 

 the task. I moreover avow, that I could not but entertain the 

 apprehension, that in many important particulars I should not 

 be of the same mind with the illustrious individual, the analysis 

 of whose labours has hitherto afforded me so much delight, 

 without eliciting a single word of criticism from my pen. But 

 these scruples have all vanished, upon reflecting that the inter- 

 preting of these Egyptian hieroglyphics is one of the most bril- 

 liant discoveries of our age ; — that it was Dr Young himself 

 who introduced my name into the discussion, — and, finally, that 

 to inquire whether France may pretend to this new wreath of 

 glory, is only accomplishing the task which at this moment I am 

 fulfilling — the enacting the part of a good citizen, I acutely 

 feel that I am treading upon delicate ground, and I know that 

 in the citizen of the world there is much to admire ; but in what 

 terms would be proper to designate him, if, when every neigh- 

 bouring country is enumerating with satisfaction the discoveries 

 of her sons, I was not permitted, in the bosom of our own, — 

 amidst associates whose modesty I must not wound, — to enter 

 upon the proof that France has not degenerated, and that eve- 

 ry year she contributes her full contingent to the vast stores of 

 human knowledge. 



I take up, then, the question of Egyptian writing, and enter 

 upon it free from all prepossessions, and with the firm resolution 

 to be just ; with a sincere desire to reconcile the rival preten- 

 sions of two illustrious individuals, whose premature death has 

 been to Europe the subject of sincere regret. Be it also ob- 

 served, that in this discussion concerning hieroglyphics I shall 

 not transgress the limits which are assigned me ; happy if the 

 assembly which now hears me, and whose indulgence I crave, 



accomplish the object they propose, viz. the making manifest his claim to originality in 

 a discovery, of which the incalculable historical importance is sufficiently attested by the 

 numerous efforts which our transmarine neighbours are making, to claim it for them- 



