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by an eagle [in Egyptian akhom], which was a known symbol of Roman power."

The subject of this note can perhaps be made still more intelligible, by the following illustration.

Suppose we wished to write the name AMERICA hieroglyphically; then for an alphabet we should have various objects, the first letters of which would represent the several letters of the word America. For example, the letter A might be represented by the figure of an anchor, or of an ant, or of an alligator, or of an arch; the letter M by the figure of a mountain, or of a man, or of the planet Mercury, of the moon, or of a mouth; the letter E by the figure of an eye, or of an ear, or of an eagle, or of an edifice; the letter R by the figure of a rabbit, or of a rattle-snake, or of a reapinghook, or of a rudder; the letter I by the figure of an infant, or of an Indian, or by the mark of infinity; the letter C by the figure of a circle, or of a cat, or of a cannon, or of a column, or of a coffin, or of a chair; the letter A again, if repeated, might be represented by the same figure as before.

Now to write the letters of the word AMERICA by signs which should also be symbols of ideas, from among all the hieroglyphic signs of the letter A, we might perhaps prefer the figure of an anchor, to convey the idea of a vessel, and thus of commerce which contributes so largely to our wealth, and of a navy which affords us protection and security from foreign aggression. For the letter M, we might select either a mountain, as symbolical of the lofty heights so frequent in our country; or a mouth, which signifying figuratively freedom and boldness of speech, might convey some idea of the nature of our government. For the letter E we should prefer the figure of an eagle, which appears on every American standard, as a towering emblem of our country. Again, for the letter R we might choose a reaping hook, as significant of the gathering in of corn and grain and other arops, and thus a symbol of agriculture, in which so large a part of the population of our country are employed. For the letter I, we might take either the image of an infant, which being emblematical of the first age of anything, might repre

sent our yet early existence as a nation; or the image of an Indian, which would convey an idea of the primitive inhabitants of the American continent, and the associated idea of our forefathers, whose contact with them was so frequent and often so fearful. For the letter C we might choose a circle as an emblem of duration, or a cannon, as an emblem of past conflict, or of preparedness to defend rights which were purchased at the expense of blood. The last A it would be unnecessary to repeat, or if repeated the same figure might be used as before. In this way the word AMERICA, written hieroglyphically, would be represented by an anchor, a mountain or a mouth, an eagle, a reaping-hook, an infant or an Indian, and lastly a circle or a cannon.

[ L. p. 49. ]

Grammatical Forms.

Some of the hieroglyphics which represent the most important grammatical forms, are here subjoined. They are copied from Spineto (Lect. v.).

"The marks of the genders are, a square, either plain or striated, for the masculine, and half a circle, for the feminine. The plural is almost invariably expressed by a simple repetition of the [hieroglyphical] units; to these units sometimes is added a quail; all of these stand for the syllable noue, or oue, which is the termination added to the plural. For instance, the word soten signifies king, and by the addition of noue we have so-tenouc kings; noyte god, noytenoue gods; and the like.

In regard to the genders, it seems the Egyptians also expressed them by employing the pronouns of him, of her; and these pronouns were represented by the figure of an undulating line over a serpent, or over a broken line. In the first in

stance the group represented the pronoun his, or of him, which, in Coptic, was nev or nef; in the second instance, the group stood for the pronoun her's, or of her, which in Coptic was called nes." These terminations, or an abbreviation of them, if added to hieroglyphic expressions, would make them either of the masculine or feminine gender. "For example, the chenalopex, that is the goose, or the egg, are the phonetic hieroglyphics expressing the word child, for both of them represent the letter S, which is an abbreviation of the word se or tse, son, child. Therefore if to the bird or to the egg we add the figure of the serpent, or the broken line, we shall have, in the first instance, the group signifying son of him, or his son; and in the second, son of her, or her son.

The genitive case is expressed mostly by an undulating line added to a group. This hieroglyphic stands for the letter N, and on those occasions is taken as an abbreviation of the syllable nen, which is the invariable termination of the genitive case in the Coptic language.

The Egyptians distinguished the third person singular of the present tense in the same way as we do in the English language, by adding the letter s to the word-such as he does, he writes. The figure of the serpent which stands for the letter S, is a mark of the third person singular of the present tense." Champollion has found a number of other hieroglyphics which exhibit the inflections of verbs, but they are not yet all accurately determined. "The passive participle was represented by two hieroglyphics, the horn, and the half circle. The pronoun this, was exhibited by a vase and a perpendicular line. The pronoun who or which, is represented by a vase and half a circle. Such are some of the principal and most important grammatical forms or phrases."

[The importance of understanding these to such as intend to read hieroglyphic inscriptions, is sufficiently plain. No connected discourse can be made out, without a familiar knowledge of them. M. S.1

[ M. p. 61. ]

Brief notices of the Egyptian Mythology.

The origin of the world from a dark primitive chaos, is a dogma belonging not only to almost all the Oriental nations and to many of the Greek schools, but it was fully believed by the ancient Egyptians. Mind and Matter were supposed by them to have co-existed from all eternity, and it was the influence of Mind upon Matter, which reduced the latter to form, and brought it forth from darkness to light. The ancient Egyptian philosophers all represent this Mind as infinite and eternal; as presiding over all other gods, both spiritual and material; as having given origin to the world, and as governing and penetrating through all nature. This supreme Mind, was the Demiurgos of the Egyptians, their god Am

mon.

It would be interesting here, to trace out the analogy between the philosophy of the Greeks and Egyptians, about the origin of the world and of the souls of men. But we can only

advert, at present, to a few traits. The theory of Orpheus about an immense egg of matter, from which, by the fiery nature of Spirit, the world was hatched, was borrowed from the Egyptians, and was carried by him from Egypt into Greece, where it became the basis of the Stoical system of active and passive principles. Again, that belief in the spiritual origin of the soul, which may be traced in much of the philosophy of Greece, sometimes in a pure form, and sometimes more or less adulterated, was also an important dogma of the Egyptians, though by them it was blended with the doctrine of metempsychosis. Jablonski, after collecting strong evidence of this fact from ancient writers, thus describes the views which the Egyptians had of the soul; "Nempe Anima, secundum Ægyptios, erat to ɛïov, Divinitas, vel Essentia Divina, quæ a sede suâ veluti

delapsa, ali

214

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quamdiu per homines et animalia transibat, donec ad pristinum locum rediret." (Pantheon Egyptiacum, p. 32.)

All the animated part of creation being distinguished by sexes, and the Egyptians regarding nature as productive and animated, they were thus led gradually to transfer their notions of gender to Ammon, who generated all things. In one point of view, however, they acknowledged both a male and female principle in this supreme god of their theogony. One of the symbols made use of to represent Ammon was the head of a ram, or a ram holding between his horns a circle.* Wherever either of these symbols occurred, this deity was called Nef, Nouv, or Chnouphis,† Noub or Chnoubis; all which appellations are proved, by Champollion and by M. Letronne, to signify one and the same attribute of Ammon, viz. his male nature. In this form, Spineto remarks, that "he was considered as one of the modifications or rather an emanation, of the great Demiurgos, the primitive cause of all moral and physical blessings. He was then called the Good Genius; the male origin of all things; the spirit which, by mixing itself in all its parts, animated and perpetuated the world.” Virgil describes him very well in his Æneid, Lib. vi. 726:

Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus

Mens agitat molem, et toto se corpore miscet.

He is sometimes symbolically represented by a large serpent, which designates him as the spirit who flows through the whole earth. It is this spirit to whom Horapollo refers in the following passage. Ουτω παρ' αὐτοῖς τῶ παντὸς τὸ dıñnov έστì лvεõua. (Hieroglyph. Lib. 1. cap. 64.) In this form he is called Agathodæmon by the Greeks.

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The female principle in nature was represented by the goddess Neith, another emanation from the Demiurgos. "This goddess," says Spineto, "occupied the superior part of the heavens, inseparable from the first principle, and was

* The names of all the divinities whom we shall mention, are repsented phonetically, figuratively, and symbolically. We shall select only now and then from these representations.

+ Chnouphis in the old Egyptian language signifies good.

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