INTRODUCTION. 
7 
“ All you who come into the world and go 
out of it know this, that the gods hate impu¬ 
dence.” 
“ Between the statues obelisks were plac’d. 
And the learned walls with hieroglyphics grac’d.” 
i 
In the hieroglyphics of Harapollo two 
armies in battle array are represented by two 
hands, one holding a shield, and the other a 
bow. 
Trismegistus, the celebrated Egyptian priest 
and philosopher, is said to have been the first 
who taught his countrymen the art of record¬ 
ing memorable events by this kind of symbo¬ 
lical writing; perhaps he only improved upon 
it by substituting signs which connected pic¬ 
tures and characters, and formed regular 
grammatical sentences, as the Egyptians seem 
to have been the first who made this advance 
in the science. 
The Chinese appear to have thrown out 
