Dr. YoUnct’s remarks on the reduction 
82 
would be more than 10 to 1 that they must be derived in both 
cases from some parent language, or introduced in some other 
manner; six words would give near 1700 chances to 1, and 
8 near 100,000 : so that in these last cases the evidence would 
be little short of absolute certainty. 
In the Biscayan, for example, or the ancient language of 
Spain, we find in the vocabulary accompanying the elegant 
essay of Baron W. von Humboldt, the words berria, new ; 
ora, a dog ; guchi, little ; oguia , bread ; otsoa, a wolf, whence 
the Spanish onza ; and zazpi, or, as Lacroze writes it, shashpi, 
seven. Now in the ancient Egyptian, new is beri ; a dog, 
uhor ; little, kudchi ; bread, oik ; a wolf, uonsh ; and seven, 
shashf ; and if we consider these words as sufficiently iden- 
tical to admit of our calculating upon them, the chances will 
be more than a thousand to one, that, at some very remote 
period, an Egyptian colony established itself in Spain : for 
none of the languages of the neighbouring nations retain any 
graces of having been the medium through which these words 
have been conveyed. 
On the other hand, if we adopted the opinions of a late 
learned antiquary, the probability would be still incomparably 
greater that Ireland was originally peopled from the same 
mother country: since he has collected more than 100 words 
which are certainly Egyptian, and which he considers as 
bearing the same sense in Irish ; but the relation, which he 
has magnified into identity, appears in general to be that of a 
very faint resemblance : and this is precisely an instance of a 
case, in which it would be deceiving ourselves to attempt to 
reduce the matter to a calculation. 
The mention of a single number, which is found; to be in- 
