ADDITIONAL NOTES. VI.
HIEROGLYPHIC CHARACTERS.
| So
erst as Egypt's
rude designs explain. CANTO
I.
1.
351. |
THE outlines
of
animal
bodies,
which
gave
names
to
the
constellations,
as
well
as
the
characters
used
in
chemistry
for
the
metals,
and
in
astronomy
for
the
planets,
were
originally
hieroglyphic
figures,
used
by
the
magi
of
Egypt
before
the
invention
of
letters,
to
record
their
discoveries
in
those
sciences.
Other hieroglyphic figures seem to have been designed to perpetuate the events of history, the discoveries in other arts, and the opinions of those ancient philosophers on other subjects. Thus their figures of Venus for beauty, Minerva for wisdom, Mars and Bellona for war, Hercules for strength, and many others, became afterwards the deities of Greece and Rome; and together with the figures of Time, Death, and Fame, constitute the language of the painters to this day.
From the similarity of the characters which designate the metals in chemistry, and the planets in astronomy, it may be concluded that these parts of science were then believed to be connected; whence astrology seems to have been a very early superstition. These, so far, constitute an universal visible language in those sciences.
So the glory, or halo, round the head is a part of the universal language of the eye, designating a holy person; wings on the shoulders denote a good angel; and a tail and hoof denote the figure of an evil demon; to which may be added the cap of liberty and the tiara of popedom. It is to be wished that many other universal characters could be introduced into practice, which might either constitute a more comprehensive language for painters, or for other arts; as those of ciphers and signs have done for arithmetic and algebra, and crotchets for music, and the alphabets for articulate sounds; so a zigzag line made on white paper by a black-lead pencil, which communicates with the surface of the mercury in the barometer, as the paper itself is made constantly to move laterally by a clock, and daily to descend through the space necessary, has ingeniously produced a most accurate visible account of the rise and fall of the mercury in the barometer every hour in the year.
Mr. Grey's Memoria Technica was designed as an artificial language to remember numbers, as of the eras, or dates of history. This was done by substituting one consonant and one vowel for each figure of the ten cyphers used in arithmetic, and by composing words of these letters; which words Mr. Grey makes into hexameter verses, and produces an audible jargon, which is to be committed to memory, and occasionally analysed into numbers when required. An ingenious French botanist, Monsieur Bergeret, has proposed to apply this idea of Mr. Grey to a botanical nomenclature, by making the name of each plant to consist of letters, which, when analysed, were to signify the number of the class, order, genus, and species, with a description also of some particular part of the plant, which was designed to be both an audible and visible language.
Bishop
Wilkins
in
his
elaborate "Essay
towards
a
Real
Character
and
a
Philosophical
Language," has
endeavoured
to
produce,
with
the
greatest
simplicity,
and
accuracy,
and
conciseness,
an
universal
language
both
to
be
written
and
spoken,
for
the
purpose
of
the
communication
of
all
our
ideas
with
greater
exactness
and
less
labour
than
is
done
in
common
languages,
as
they
are
now
spoken
and
written.
But
we
have
to
lament
that
the
progress
of
general
science
is
yet
too
limited
both
for
his
purpose,
and
for
that
even
of
a
nomenclature
for
botany;
and
that
the
science
of
grammar,
and
even
the
number
and
manner
of
the
pronunciation
of
the
letters
of
the
alphabet,
are
not
yet
determined
with
such
accuracy
as
would
be
necessary
to
constitute
Bishop
Wilkins's
grand
design
of
an
universal
language,
which
might
facilitate
the
acquirement
of
knowledge,
and
thus
add
to
the
power
and
happiness
of
mankind.
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