Writing. 
to denote tlie moon, from the supposed 
contraction or dilatation of the pupil of her 
eye, at ditferent parts of the lunation. In 
common hieroglyphics, Egypt was denoted 
by a crocodile ; in the sacred, by a heart 
on a burning censor. One animal, or other 
sensible object, was used to denote a va- 
riety of qualities ; and tiie same idea was 
denoted by various hieroglyphics. This has 
attached to the whole hieroglyphical system 
the character of mystery : when we trace 
the progress of the Chinese language, we 
shall have additional proofs of the injustice 
of this opinion; 
The exact manner of delineation would 
be tedious and voluminous. The more use 
was made of visible communication, the 
more we may expect to find the character, 
originally significant, become a mere arbi- 
trary mark. In the early stages of the 
Egyptian hieroglyphics, considerable atten- 
tion was paid to the outline and filling-up 
of their figures. Afterwards a rude outline 
was sufficient; and this was changed, for 
the convenience of the writer, till it lost 
every resemblance to the object it origi- 
nally represented. Many changes in our 
own written character might be adduced, 
illustrative of this change from the delinea- 
tion to the cursive hieroglyphic. The mark 
for and, for instance, was once the correct 
picture of et : some forms show its origin^ 
as ; at present, in writing at least, it 
bears no features of resemblance to its 
original. The use of the cursive hierogly- 
phic would take off the attention from the 
Symbol, and fix it upon the thing signified ; 
a progress which we equally Observe in oral 
language, where words, originally denote- 
ments of sensible objects, became the 
names for mental qualities bearing some 
resemblance to what they before signified; 
and in many instances have been appro- 
priated to the mental quality without any 
reference to the original meaning. 
Visible characters having become arbi- 
trary marks fbr ideas or words, two pro- 
cesses were pursued by different districts 
of Asia and Africa : the one was to consider 
these characters as signs for sounds, and, by 
their intervention, of ideas ; the other, as 
signs for ideas without any reference to 
sounds. The latter was the procedure of 
the Chinese ; the former, of all nations who 
used alphabetical characters. 
On the Chinese Language. 
We come now to the consideration of a 
language singular in all its parts, and pos- 
sessed of such peculiar featdres that it vvell 
deserves our attention. The written lan- 
guage of the Chinese has passed through all 
the gradations which we have described ; 
and from their pictures, characters have be- 
come mere arbitrary marks : these are em- 
ployed, not as signs for sounds, but for 
ideas ; and their combinations and, changes 
have no corresponding combinations and 
changes in the spoken language of China. 
Before the time of their first emperor, 
Fohi, the Chinese are supposed to have em- 
ployed knotted cords, like the Peruvians. 
Fohi introduced in their place horizontal 
lines (see Plate Miscel. fig. 14); some 
whole, others divided ; and by their com- 
bination in threes, formed the text of the 
most ancient Chinese ’ work, called “Ye 
King.” On these trigrams numerous com- 
mentaries have been written, some as eaiiy 
as 1100 years before Christ: they are sup- 
posed to contain, in a few lines, the most 
sublime truths, and are employed in divina- 
tion ; blit they are still unintelligible. By 
Xin-nung, the successor of Fohi, sixty-four 
hexagrams (like those in fig. 15), were in- 
vented; which are supposed to contain the 
whole circle of human knowledge. It is 
thought that these characters were taken 
from the knotted cords, and it seems to uS 
probable that they expressed no more. The 
time of their invention (which is carried 
back to the age of Noah), and their appa- 
rent inadequacy to represent more than 
numbers, render it highly improbable that 
they were intended to denote the mysteries 
of philosophy. The present numerals of the 
Chinese have an equal right to be esteemed 
the mysterious denotements of science. 
Whatever be the justness of this idea, it is 
certain that these trigrams and hexagrams 
are not the origin of the present Chinese 
character. In numerous instances, the pro- 
gress can be traced from pictures or sym- 
bols to the present form ; in some the con- 
necting steps are lost, but the general in- 
ference is still a just one. The present form 
seldom presents any traces of its original. 
Tien (fig. 16), heaven, has ho longer a na- 
tural or symbolical resemblance to the ob- 
ject ; but it was first represented by three 
curved lines (as in fig. 17), and, through 
the various changes in fig. 18, it has arrived 
at its present form. Several other exam- 
ples are given in the Phil. Trans, vol. lix. 
BefOrO vve advance further respecting tire 
written language of the Chinese, it will be 
proper to attend a little to their oral lan- 
guage. This, as was observed in Language, 
