ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. 
227 
It would be premature to speak of Mr. Salmon’s investigations in the 
geometry of three dimensions, as they have not as yet been fully given 
to the public ; but we have already had a foretaste of what may be ex¬ 
pected from him in this higher region of mathematical research, as he 
has already read to the Academy a valuable paper on the “ Eeciprocalof 
a Surface of the Second Degree,” and he has contributed to different pe¬ 
riodical journals most important investigations relative to the surface of 
the third degree: all of which, with many additions, we may look forward 
to in a collected form, in a third volume of his Geometry, devoted to the 
properties of surfaces. 
III. It is now more than 200 years since Louis Cappel, who died in 
1658, published his celebrated “Arcanum Punctationis Bevelatum,” in 
which he maintained that the Hebrew vowel-points and accents were no 
part of the inspired text of the Old Testament, but were to be regarded in 
the light of an uninspired commentary, added to the text at different times, 
and brought by degrees to perfection by the Masoretic doctors. Cappel 
was a Protestant minister, and Professor of Hebrew at Saumur, in Prance; 
and such was the opposition made to his opinions by his brethren, that 
he was forced to send his work to Holland, where the first edition ap¬ 
peared without his name, under the editorial care of the celebrated Er- 
penius. He was represented as in league with the Jesuits to undermine 
the authority of the Bible; his congregation repudiated him; he was 
deprived of his Professorship; and the magistrates of the town were 
called on to banish him from his home, as if he had been an offender 
against society. 
It is well for Dr. Wall that he lives in better times. He has gone 
further than Louis Cappel ever dreamt of going; he has adopted all 
Louis Cappel’s doctrines as to the modem origin of the vowel-points; 
and, instead of driving him from the University, or handing him over to 
the police, this learned Society meets together to-night, in presence of 
her Majesty’s honoured representative, to confer upon him our highest 
literary distinction. Thus it is that learning and enlightened liberality 
ever go hand in hand. It was ignorance, rather than bigotry, that ignited 
the zeal of Cappel’s persecutors. It is the advancement of learning that 
enables us now to do honour to the memory of Cappel, and to recognise 
in Dr. Wall one who has made a great further advance in the science of 
Biblical criticism. We see now that the question of the true inspiration 
of the Bible is not really affected by the discovery of Cappel, nor even 
by that of Dr. Wall,—that, on the contrary, the removal of an error must 
always clear the way to the discovery and elucidation of the truth. 
It is not easy to give a clear idea of the nature of Dr. Wall’s theory 
to those who are unacquainted with the Oriental languages; but I shall 
venture, trusting to your indulgence, to make the attempt. 
He maintains that when men first attempted to record their thoughts 
by writing, hieroglyphic pictures were naturally the first mode of doing 
so that occurred to them. 
He asserts that the great defects and necessary obscurity of this 
uiethod of writing, being inadequate to the fulfilment of the Divine 
