EGYPT.—AN INTRODUCTION. 
himself to the subject and discovered the means of deciphering the hieroglyphics. He 
observed that certain words in the Greek inscription when repeated, were also found 
repeated in the characters of the enchorial, and also those of the hieroglyphic inscription; 
the sounds expressed by the same Coptic letters were also observed, and in the same 
relative places; and this was also noticed in the hieroglyphic. Thus words of frequent 
occurrence, as Ptolemy, Arsinoe, Berenice, and Cleopatra, were found in the hieroglyphic 
to be made up of characters which were alphabetical and phonetic. By this mode of 
research. Dr. Young was the first to perceive, and to him the honour is now indisputably 
given for the important discovery, that the hieroglyphical characters were phonetic. 
He established the certainty of five of them as representatives of sounds corresponding 
to our letters I, N, P, T, and F. He also claimed four others ; but Champollion le jeune, 
who was pioneered by him, established a claim to these and to the extension of the 
phonetic hieroglyphics to an alphabet of sixteen distinct sounds. For each of these he 
also found many symbols, which are homophones, or representations under different 
figures of similar sounds, applied in accordance to a defined system, and not capriciously. 
He also proved the existence of a system by which the hieroglyphics were used 
figuratively, symbolically, and phonetically, always in the same text, often in the same 
phrase, and even in the same word; but the names of countries and persons could 
only be expressed phonetically, and the latter are always found in an oval or cartouche. 
Since the discovery by Dr. Young, the subject has been followed out by the zeal and 
devotion of the Champollions, Rosellini, Wilkinson, Burton, Lepsius, Birch, Sharpe, 
Bunsen, and other archaeologists. A reference to these authors will excite an interest 
in the subject not easily to be satisfied. One of the most succinct and popular illustrations 
of the Egyptian hieroglyphics will be 'found in a work by Mr. Gliddon, formerly 
Consul for the United States, resident in Cairo. He was one of the active members 
of an association of gentlemen established there for the investigation of Egyptian 
archaeology, and he has published in a cheap and convenient form, “ A Series of Chapters 
on Early Egyptian History,” 1 which will be read with great interest, and better prepare 
1 In a work like the present, it is impracticable to enter' into even an elementary illustration of 
the hieroglyphical writings ; but a selection may be made of a passage in Gliddon’s work, which, while 
it cannot fail to amuse the reader by the absurd degree of national vanity it betrays, and which 
so often raises a smile among us, will better illustrate the subject than any other passage of 
equal length that could be referred to. He says:— 
“ In Egyptian hieroglyphics, as may be seen in part by the alphabet, there are, in some instances, 
as many as twenty-five different characters used to represent one letter, and these are termed 
‘homophones’ of that letter. 
“One immense advantage accrued in monumental legends from this variety, for the artist was 
thus enabled to employ those figures which, while representing the articulated sound of the letter, had 
by their form a relation to the idea these signs were to express. The writer could thus, by the 
judicious selection of his letters from the variety of his homophones, convey a meaning of admiration, 
praise, dignity, beauty, strength, &c., or he could denote disgust, hatred, insignificance, or other 
depreciatory opinions. 
“ I will endeavour to make this ‘ apparent by an example. Suppose we wished to adopt the same 
system in our language, and write the word ‘America’ in hieroglyphics. I use pure Egyptian hiero¬ 
glyphics as letters, adapting them to English values:— 
“A—We might select one out of many more or less appropriate symbols ; as an asp, apple, altar, 
